


Bang Chan's Clan: Best Boys Only Compliation

by lossit_bay



Series: Bang Chan's Clan [8]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Humour, Supernatural Elements, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 38,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26470492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Summary: This is no new content but is a compliation of cute moments from Bang Chan's Clan that only contain the bestest boys.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Series: Bang Chan's Clan [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1400593
Comments: 11
Kudos: 68





	1. You're Adopted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RadicalRox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadicalRox/gifts).



> These moments were all carefully compiled by Rox- everyone say thank you Rox. She reread and edited when I couldn't.

**_And so it begins:_ **

Minho didn't realise he had been adopted by Bang Chan until it was too late. Apparently, this was pretty common.

It’s not like he needed adopting anyway. He was 187 for Terra’s sake, plenty old enough to look after himself. Yes, he’d been in the city for years now and it was slowly rotting his soul but that was his choice, he could go home any time he wanted to.

Minho first met Chan at a 24 hour cafe in the dead of night. He had been working late, using his natural strength and grace to get by as a backup dancer for some human idol group. Well, they were advertised as human at least.

Chan was sitting at a table, surrounded by papers and empty mugs, hair in disarray. Minho thought he looked a bit deranged typing furiously on his laptop and flipping through stacks of notes looking for information. One page made a bid for freedom as Minho walked past so he picked it up and handed it back to the harried boy with a warm smile. Chan took it, not quite meeting his gaze and muttered a quiet thank you.

Minho had made it 5 steps towards his table before the words sunk in. He spun back around and slammed his hand down on the table next to Chan’s current mug of coffee. “How did you know what I was?” he demanded.

“Huh?” Chan said, finally looking Minho in the eyes.

“You thanked me in elvish,” Minho hissed.

“Oh. Sorry?” Chan said. “Are you not? You just smelled like an elf and I thought it would be polite.”

Minho rolled his eyes and pulled up a seat next to Chan. “I am an elf,” he said. “But how did you know elvish? You’re certainly not one with a nose like that.”

Chan pouted and rubbed his nose self-consciously. “I’m a vamp. I learnt elvish from an old friend of mine so we could gossip in class.” He paused and stared into his cup as if the memories pained him. “I’ll not use it again since it offended you so much.”

“No!” Minho shouted, turning the heads of the weary employees. “No,” he said quieter. “Please, nobody’s spoken elvish to me in years.”

In hindsight, Minho realised that that early morning vulnerable confession was the moment Bang Chan decided to adopt him.

Chan stayed in the cafe all night, working tirelessly and ordering mug after mug of hot chocolate. When Minho questioned why he didn’t buy coffee Chan shrugged and said he didn’t need the caffeine. Minho should have left almost as soon as he'd arrived. He’d had a long grueling day and there was another ahead of him but he couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving Chan, the tiny glimmer of home in his mumbled accented elvish.

Just after dawn a trio of school kids burst through the doors, far too happy for that time in the morning. A girl broke off as they entered and barreled towards Chan.

“Hyung!!” she cried, jumping into Chan’s waiting arms.

Surely it should have been ‘oppa’ Minho thought.

“Morning, Innie,” Chan smiled the first real smile Minho had seen from him. “I like your hair.”

“I’ve been practicing,” the girl said proudly. She screwed up her eyes in concentration and Minho watched in awe as her blonde hair took on a pinkish hue. “See!” the girl said excitedly, holding one of her pigtails out to Chan. “I got it right down to the ends.”

The other school kids joined them and the taller of the two boys handed the girl a drink that seemed to be mostly cream.

“Hi, Hyung,” the other said. “Who’s your friend?”

Chan jumped as he realised Minho was still sitting next to him. “Boys, this is Minho. He’s an elf.”

Minho frowned. Your species wasn’t exactly something you just told strangers on the street. But he supposed Chan wasn’t really a stranger anymore and these kids seemed like family to him. Perhaps they were part of his clan.

“Minho, this is Seungmin, an imp, Hyunjin, a mer and Jeongin, a shifter,” Chan gestured to the boys in turn. Then again, perhaps they weren’t part of his clan.

Hyunjin smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Hyung. I’ve never met an elf before.”

“Says the merman in the middle of the city,” Minho replied.

“I was born in the Han river,” Hyunjin told him, still smiling.

Minho couldn’t help but pull a disgusted face. The city river was clogged with pollution. He couldn’t imagine even touching that water, let alone living in it.

Jeongin laughed. “Yeah, he’s a gross sewer boy,” he teased his friend. “We didn’t even realise he was this pretty until he’d been living with us a few weeks and finally washed off all the dirt.”

Hyunjin gasped. “You think I’m pretty, Innie?”

Chan snorted. “Literally everyone thinks you’re pretty, Jinnie.”

“Do you think I’m pretty, Minho-hyung?” Hyunjin asked. “I heard all elves are, like, super pretty.”

Minho pretended to scrutinise the boy but in all honesty even by elf standards Hyunjin’s delicate features were impressive. “I guess you’re ok,” Minho allowed.

Chan shooed the kids off to school once they were finished with their drinks. “Innie! Remember and change back before class!!” he called out as they left.

“You really shouldn’t yell stuff like that around so many humans,” Minho said glancing around the cafe for anybody that might have found the comment odd.

“It’s fine,” Chan said. “Humans tend to presume its a joke or a game and nobody likes butting into other people’s business in the city. They’d rather stare blankly through your face and pretend they can’t see you.” He lifted his mug and drained the last dregs before pooling all his papers together. “Anyways, it’s not like I said ‘Jeongin remember to shift back into your birth form before school so you don’t get marked as absent.’”

“Has that happened?” Minho asked, curious.

“More than once,” Chan sighed. “He’s lucky we have a witch who can erase memories.”

By Terra, how many mystics did this man know? In five years of living in Seoul Minho had only met a fae and a very grumpy sewer goblin.

“I should go now, while the smog is still blocking the sun,” Chan said apologetically. “If you want to chat again I'm here a lot and my friends and I run a shop down by the river 3RACHA, they can pass on a message if I'm not there myself.”

“Sure,” Minho said casually, not wanting to sound too desperate for this stranger's company. “It was nice to meet you.”

Chan waved at him once more from the door before being swept away by the morning rush. Minho checked the time and sighed. He just had time to go home and shower before he had to be back at work again.

**_Whipped at first sight:_ **

3RACHA was a much odder shop in person than the website suggested. It was sandwiched between a laundromat and a takeout shop, with the black door painted with a giant red outline of a chicken. The creaking sign didn't even claim it to be a jewellery, only having another chicken outline and the word 3RACHA. Minho peered in the window to check he hadn't accidentally ended up at a chicken joint.

A boy with wide eyes and orange hair grinned back at him. Minho stumbled back in surprise, and fell to the ground as he tripped on the curb. The boy sat up and pressed his head against the glass, mouthing “are you ok?”

A different boy ran out of the door seconds later and helped him up before he could reply. When the boy pushed his blue hair away from his face Minho glimpsed that his ear was full of piercings and the hand that helped him up was covered in rings. Perhaps this was the right shop after all.

“I'm sorry about Felix,” the new boy rambled, dusting off Minho's coat. “We keep telling him not to study in the window but he likes to people watch.”

“It's ok,” Minho said, though it really wasn't. His ankle was throbbing and Minho really couldn't afford to be off work right now. Minho took a tentative step and his leg crumpled beneath him. He grabbed onto the boy for support before he fell again and bit his lip to stop the pitiful whine escaping his mouth.

“Frogskin, you're really hurt,” the boy exclaimed and wrapped Minho's arm around his shoulder, slipping his own arm around Minho's waist. “Come into the shop and I'll fix you up.”

The inside of the shop was mesmerising. Rickety wooden shelves lined every wall filled with bottles and books and boxes of feathers of every colour. There were jewels too, not displayed in a case but hung on silver wires to catch the light and split it across the room in muted reds and blues and greens. A large scarred table took up the middle of the shop and a heavy leather bound book lay open on it, surrounded by corked bottles and brassy weights were piled up at one side next to an old fashioned scale.

“Woah,” Minho said in awe. “This place is beautiful.”

“You think so?” the boy asked excitedly. “Hyunjin worked really hard to make it look right. I don't understand anything about that- I'd just leave everything on piles on the floor.” He lowered Minho onto a stool by the table and knelt down to gently remove Minho's shoe.

“Ah, Hyunjin did this?” Minho said, impressed at the school boy.

“You know Hyunjin?” the boy from earlier said, climbing out of the window display. He balanced precariously on a box before flipping lightly to the floor.

“I met him briefly the other day,” Minho admitted. “At that 24 hour cafe?”

The boy's face lit up and he bowed to Minho. “You must be Minho-ssi!” He said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I knew you tasted weird!”

The boy at Minho's foot glanced up apologetically. “Sorry, Felix's English is a work in process,” he said.

“No, Sungie, he really does taste weird.” Felix whined. “It's Minho-ssi, the elf Channie-hyung met.”

The boy's eyes widened. “Ah, you're the elf! Pleased to meet you, Minho-ssi. I'm Jisung, I run this shop with Chan-hyung and Binnie-hyung.” He grinned. “And since you're an elf I can just do this instead of messing about with plants.” Jisung cupped Minho's ankle carefully and Minho felt it start to itch and heat up as the boy muttered words under his breath. After a few seconds he stopped, swaying slightly and holding Minho's calf for support. Felix rolled his eyes at Minho and scooped Jisung up by the armpit, setting him down again on the stool next to Minho.

“This is why he should use potions instead of spells,” Felix told Minho as Jisung slumped against the table. “I'll be one minute,” Felix called and skipped out past a curtain on the back wall.

“Are you a witch?” Minho asked, prodding a chubby cheek to check Jisung was still awake.

Jisung mumbled incoherently and opened one eye. “Pretty cool right,” he said, smiling lazily and closing his eyes again.

Felix skipped back in and shoved a box under Jisung's nose. “Sungie-yah, chocolate,” he sang, wafting the smell to alert the boy. Jisung blinked once and opened his mouth, tongue sticking out. Felix placed a square on the tip and the tongue retreated.

“Now we wait,” Felix said, stroking Jisung's long hair back from his face.

“What happened? Is he ok?” Minho asked. Jisung's cheeks had become impossibly chubbier as he sucked on the chocolate square and Minho was mesmerized.

“Uh,” Felix said. “I don't know how to explain in Korean.” He admitted, rubbing his neck. “Magic takes his blood energy, makes him sleepy. He's fine, chocolate will make him better,” Felix said confidently. Jisung's tongue stuck back out, now lightly coated in melted chocolate and Felix gave him another square.

Minho flexed his ankle. He could tell it had been injured from the way it didn't quite move as fluidly as it should but it didn't hurt at all and there was no bruise forming. Perhaps Jisung had managed to heal it before he drained himself. Jisung's tongue stuck out once more and Felix let out a melodic giggle as he fed his friend.

“No more!” Felix laughed as Jisung's tongue reappeared not ten seconds later. Jisung's tongue waggled and Felix laughed, chastising Jisung in a language that sounded like chiming glass and water droplets. Jisung replied shortly in the same language and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Sorry for collapsing on you,” Jisung said, hiding a yawn. “It's been a while since breakfast and I forgot how much energy that takes.”

“It's not a problem,” Minho said hurriedly. “You shouldn't have if it takes that much out of you.”

Jisung waved him off and leant down to touch Minho's ankle. “Ah,” he said in annoyance as he focused. “I only sped it to a week, it's still injured.”

“Don't-!” Minho said, pulling his leg back.

“I wasn't going to,” Jisung smiled. “I don't have any blood sugar left.” He glanced at Felix who was perched on the table, nibbling some of the chocolate, then back to Minho. “Do you want to join us for lunch, Minho-ssi?” he asked. “I can fix your ankle afterwards.”

Minho couldn't say no. Something about Jisung pulled at Minho's focus more than anything else in his shop and Minho didn't know how to look away.

**_Not a fae:_ **

“Oh, are you a fae?” Hyunjin piped up. Everyone else in the room tensed and Jisung laid a warning hand on Minho's thigh.

“No, he's not,” Felix said carefully like he was afraid to say the wrong word. Minho twitched a smile in his direction to show it was nothing personal.

“We have homework,” Seungmin announced suddenly, pulling Hyunjin from the room. “See you later, Minho-hyung!”

“You know it doesn't matter to us that you're an elf, Hyung,” Felix said quietly, sitting on the other side of Jisung. “Me and Seungmin weren't alive for the First Spell but it seems like it was a good thing it happened.”

“I think so too,” Minho said and Jisung linked their fingers together, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I'm just not fae, you know? I wasn't born there, neither were my parents. I don't even know what the Fairy Realm is like.”

“It's really beautiful, Hyung,” Felix breathed. “More alive than any forest here and the food is amazing. I can bring you some back next time I go if you want?”

It went against everything he had been taught growing up but Minho couldn't help be curious. And he was friends with fae now, what difference would eating some of the food do? It's not like he was trying to get into the Fairy Realm.

“That would be nice,” he said.

“Get wonderglion juice, Lix!” Jisung said, recovered from his magic use at the thought of food and clinging on to his friend. Minho mourned the loss of his hand.

“Oh! And strawberries!” Jisung continued. “Minho-hyung the strawberries there are _so good._ They make our ones taste like water. Can you go tomorrow? I really want strawberries now.”

“Have you got information to buy these strawberries with, Sungie?” Felix replied dryly.

“Uuuhhh,” Jisung paused and squinted hard like he was reading an eye exam printed on the sun. “Some people think the earth is flat?”

“We've used that one.”

“Carrots used to be purple?”

“No value. Everyone knows that.”

“I heard a kid on the bus say 'yeet’ as an old lady went flying when the bus braked?”

“That gets you 1 strawberry,” Felix said. “You've got to find something better if you want wonderglion juice.”

“You've met an elf?” Minho tried.

“That,” Felix said pointing at him, “is good information. Worth way more strawberries than I could carry. But I'm not giving that away, it puts all of us at risk from the batshit oldies who made the First Curse.” He leant around Jisung and sent Minho a more subdued version of his blinding smile.

Jisung pulled Felix down into his lap. “What batshit oldies?” he demanded, ducking down and pressing their heads together so Felix ended up cross-eyed trying to maintain eye contact. “Are they hurting my Lixie when you go home?”

“It's fine, Sungie,” Felix said, patting Jisung's cheek. “Some of the elders just aren't very friendly about people who leave the Fairy Realm.”

“Tell me the truth,” Jisung pouted.

Felix rolled his eyes. “That was the truth, Sungie.”

“The real truth,” Jisung pressed.

Felix sighed and pushed Jisung away. “They're racist, ok,” Felix said. “They call humans horrible names and they call me names for associating with this world. They'd never hurt me though because I'm still 'pure’ fae”. He made quotation marks in the air as he pulled a face. “They'd probably want the shit beaten out of me if they heard about Changbin being a dwarf but most fae are pretty chill about Truailleadh.”

Felix had made another chiming noise at the end of his sentence but Minho could almost hear the word underneath. “True-what?” Minho asked.

“Truailleadh,” Felix repeated and it was slightly clearer that time. “I guess you can hear that word because it's a name. It's what we call this world.”

“It mostly sounds like you're dropping chopsticks in a wine glass, but yeah I could hear it,” Minho admitted.

“You can't hear fae?” Jisung asked in confusion.

“Can't hear it, can't speak it,” Minho confirmed. “Didn't your parents teach you about the First Curse?”

Jisung scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. “Ah well, I actually thought I was 100% human until Chan found me a few years back. My parents don't know shit about mystics.”

Minho felt terrible. How could he have been so insensitive? “I'm sorry Jisung. I-”

“It's ok, Hyung.” Jisung cut him off. “Channie-hyung's taught me a lot and Felix and Minnie tell me stories about the Fairy Realm. I guess the First Curse isn't the kind of thing people want to bring up though.”

“Not really,” Felix said quietly, pulling his limbs back into himself to hug them tightly. “It was pretty fucked up.”

Minho reached over Jisung and tapped Felix lightly on the knee. When Felix looked up he opened his arms in invitation and Felix hurriedly crawled over Jisung's lap into Minho’s embrace.

“It wasn't you Felix,” Minho murmured into his hair. “And this world is not so bad, is it?”

Felix nodded and buried his face in the crook of Minho’s neck. Minho ran a hand up and down his spine in comfort, feeling the slight flex of Felix's wings under his palm.

He had forgotten how nice the casual touches he got at home were. Since moving to the human city Minho had grown used to almost no physical contact but it was like a dam had broken when Jeongin sat on his lap earlier and he couldn’t help return the affection he was given.

“I'm going to find you the best damn strawberries in the whole Realm,” Felix promised.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Minho replied jokingly, squeezing the fae boy tight.

**_IT’S SO FLUFFY:_ **

When Minho woke up there was something soft and fluffy tickling his chin. Soft and fluffy and alive. For half a second he thought he was back home and Soonie had snuck in to bask in the shaft of sunlight that cut across his bed. There was no sunlight though, the only light coming from the hallway through the slight opening in the door. Minho leant back to get a better look at the animal and a long ear flicked him in the face.

“Sorry, sorry,” Minho whispered, settling back down and pressing his lips to the fur between its ears in apology. “I just wanted to see what you were but I'll stay still now.”

The animal chirped and turned to face him, pressing it's cold nose against Minho's. Large almond eyes blinked at him.

“Jeongin?” Minho asked. If he was wrong it's not like the fox (he was pretty sure he was a fox) could tell everyone of his mistake.

The fox chirped again and headbutted him before curling back under his chin. Minho guessed that meant he was Jeongin. Why Jeongin was a fox and in bed with him he didn't know but it probably had something to do with the 'Jisung-hyung's hogging Minho-hyung’ he heard yesterday. Now confident he wouldn't get bitten, Minho scratched behind Jeongin's ear and settled down to doze for a bit longer.

Minho was woken again by voices in the hall.

“I bet you 100 won i know where he is,” Hyunjin said, his voice getting louder.

“Jinnie, you can't just-” Jisung cut himself off as Hyunjin swung open Minho's door, blinking him with light from the hall. The fox barked angrily at the disturbance and jumped up to bite Hyunjin's heels. The mer boy just scooped him up, cooing dangerously close to sharp teeth.

“Sorry about him,” Jisung bowed to Minho slightly. “Hyunjin's allergic to personal space.”

Behind him there was a tussle and then Hyunjin was holding a very angry, very human Jeongin. Upside down.

“Why did you have to barge in, Minho-hyung was cuddling me,” Jeongin said, wriggling out of Hyunjin's grip. He fell in a pile of limbs to the floor and stalked off out the door, grumbling. Hyunjin followed, pouting ineffectively at the maknae's back.

**_The aftermath of Jisung finding his core and burning Minho's ankles  
_ **

“I’m really sorry, Hyung,” Jisung said. “I never should have tried to heal you with raw magic. I’ve only made it worse every time.”

“That’s not true,” Minho said. “The first time you healed it. You just ran out of energy.”

“And now I have energy it’s _so_ much better,” Jisung said sarcastically, throwing up his hands. Cracks shot across the ceiling. Minho felt his heart rate jump up and he tried not to be scared of Jisung’s newfound power.

“Ease away from it, Ji,” Chan called. “Let it go.”

“Just knock me out again, Hyung.” Jisung said dejectedly, frowning up at his work.

“You’re doing much better, Sungie,” Changbin assured him. “ You’ll have it under control in no time.”

“Please knock me out?” Jisung asked. “I’m so tired of holding it down.”

Jeongin licked his face and blinked soulfully up at the witch.

“You shouldn’t be so close, Innie,” Jisung told the fox. “I’ll explode you.”

The fox chirped and curled up in his lap again.

“Boom,” Jisung whispered into his fur as he pressed a kiss between the fox's ears. Static instantly stood the fur up on end making Jeongin impossibly fluffier.

Changbin cooed and pulled a protesting Jeongin into arms.

“If you guys are ok I'm going to head back upstairs..” Chan said and moved to get up. “I don’t want Hyunjin to be excluded.”

“Hyunjin’s alone upstairs?” Jisung asked scrambling to his knees to peer around in case the mer boy was hidden somewhere. When he confirmed that Hyunjin was indeed not with them he pouted. “Jinnie will be sad all by himself.”

There was a horrible cracking sound as the fissures in the ceiling got wider and dust rained down on them. The crack by the window grew larger, caving in on itself and there was a scream from above as Hyunjin fell through the hole. He thankfully landed on the couch, bouncing once, unharmed. The surprise of the floor suddenly opening up to swallow him had probably stopped him from tensing for the landing. Chan was immediately on his feet to catch the fridge that followed, deflecting it to smash into the coffee table instead of his child.

“Jisung,” Chan started, then he looked at the boy who was clinging to Minho’s arm, staring in shock at the fridge in a crater of debris. “Sungie, how can we help you?”

**_Gay panic:_ **

Changbin sighed, won over by Jisung's puppy dog eyes. “Fine. But if you explode something again I'm knocking you out.”

“Is that a promise?” Jisung smiled holding out his pinkie.

Changbin frowned at the outstretched hand from across the room. “I don't want to promise to hurt you, Sungie,” he said.

“Promise,” Jisung insisted.

Changbin got up and crossed distance between them in two quick strides, ignoring Jisung's waiting hand and kneeling down to pull the younger boy into a tight hug. “Why can't I protect any of you, huh?” He cradled Jisung’s head into his chest. “I'm supposed to be your Hyung.”

“We're adults, Hyung,” Jisung said, slipping his hand out of Minho's grip to pat Changbin on the back. “We can look after ourselves.”

Minho thought that was doubtful considering the chaos caused by Jisung and Felix within the first 10 minutes of him meeting them.

“You're barely 19, Sung,” Changbin reminded him.

“ _Oh, Terra help me_ ,” Minho thought. _“He's basically a child.”_

“You’re only just over legal for a dwarf too.” Jisung protested.

“I'm a decade older!”

“38-19 is not 10!” Jeongin piped up.

“Not helpful, Innie,” Changbin cooed. Jeongin pulled a disgusted face and Hyunjin giggled.

“If you want to use actual ages then Felix and Minnie are way older than you,” Jisung told Changbin, pulling back to grin smugly at him.

“That doesn't count, they don't measure time the same.” Changbin argued.

“Minho-hyung does,” Jisung said. Then his brain caught up to what he'd said. “Hyung?” he asked hesitantly.

“Hmm?” Minho answered, his eyes still shut.

“How old are you?”

“187” Minho said reluctantly.

“Years?” Jisung squeaked.

“No, watermelons.” Minho opened his eyes and sat up with difficulty, Changbin lending a supporting hand. “Yes years.”

Jisung avoided his gaze, chubby cheeks turning red and behind him the couch caught fire again, burning more fiercely than before.

“I can't believe Channie-hyung thought I was the risk,” Hyunjin grumbled, dragging Jeongin away from the flames. There was an ominous thud from inside the back of the fridge and Changbin nodded for the youngest two boys to leave.

“We’ll get Channie-hyung!” Jeongin called, as Hyunjin pushed him out the door.

“Great, he’s in full gay panic,” Changbin muttered to himself. The pallet ex-table under the fridge started smoking, vaporizing whatever the hell was leaking from the fridge cooling system. “Deep breaths aren't going to fix that.”

“This isn’t a gay panic!” Jisung said, clearly panicking. His shaking fingers were pressed against his chest, fluffy blue hair standing on end above piercing blue eyes blown wide.

“Looks like a gay panic to me,” Changbin retorted, stroking Jisung’s hair comfortingly only to have it spring back up the second he stopped. “Don’t worry about it, you’re both immortal he can’t be too old for you.”

The flames on the couch grew higher and the fridge door flew off at incredible speed, burying itself in the wall.

“I don’t think you’re helping, Changbin,” Minho observed.

“Well reason worked _last time_.” Changbin said, not shying away at Jisung's display of raw power. “Jisung’s gay panics aren't normally equipped with the power of a small sun.”

“Stop!” Jisung called out, clutching at his chest as if to stop the magic breaking free. “Stop, just stop!” He screamed, piercing like a bell and a force punched Minho, throwing him across the room.

When Minho looked up, Changbin and the fridge had also been relocated. A 2 feet clear zone now surrounded Jisung, the outline shimmering blue.

“I don't think it worked,” Jisung whispered.

**_How to Skinsing:_ **

“When you're by the river can you feel the river even when you're not looking at it?” Minho asked. Jisung looked confused. “Or if you are looking at it can you sense how deep it is and how much water is moving even if you can't see the bottom or see any rapids?”

Jisung's eyes lit up. “Yes! I'm terrified of deep water!” He said excitedly.

Minho laughed. “That's not what I was getting at but at least you know the feeling.”

“Sensing the skin is kind of like that,” Minho explained. “It's the barrier to the Fae Realm which is massive and never stays relative to this realm but the skin's not quite a physical thing you can sense normally.”

“Woah,” Hyunjin said. “That's kind of trippy.”

“Hyunjin your legs dissolve and split into four when you're nervous,” Changbin retorted. “Your existence is trippy.”

“Your _face_ is trippy,” Hyunjin shot back.

“My face will cut you,” Changbin challenged, jutting out his chin.

“So I have to feel for like a giant river hiding in the air?” Jisung said sceptically.

“Yeah,” Minho said apologetically. “It feels a bit like magic if that helps?”

“And then what?” Jisung asked “Punch it?”

“No!” Minho said. “That might make a Gate. You need a permit for that.”

“A license and a permit,” Chan clarified. “The council would arrest you immediately. Please don't make a Gate.”

“So _not_ punching the skin?” Jisung asked.

“You have to grab it,” Minho told him.

“Grab the ghost-air-river?” Jisung asked.

“I told you it was hard. And you don't grab it with your hands, you grab it with your mind.”

“Of course!” Jisung cried sarcastically. “Changbin-hyung, I grab it with my mind!” he said dramatically, turning to the boy next to him for a reaction.

“The only logical solution,” Changbin agreed.

“Ok,” Jisung said, serious again. “Once I have grabbed the ghost-air-river with my mind, then what?”

“Then you sing in Fae to twist the skin to bring Felix’ and Seungmin's part of the Fae Realm closest to this part of this one. The twisting makes it just thin enough for you to speak through it to them.” Minho outlined the final step.

The theory was one thing but to actually achieve it took the first witches months. Minho didn't want to crush Jisung's hopes by telling him and as much as anybody else he wanted Felix and Seungmin to be home safe. They had gone to the Fae Realm for him and he couldn't face the guilt if anything happened to the bright young boys because of him.

“What should I be singing exactly?” Jisung asked, taking this surprisingly well.

“Sing about what the boys mean to you, what makes them unique. Your magic should do the rest.”

“What if I get the words wrong?” Jisung asked, clearly still shaken from his mistake with Minho's ankle.

“That won't matter so much this time,” Minho said. “It's a song not a command so your feelings are more important.”

“Can I rap?” Jisung asked, eyebrows furrowed in worry. “Instead of singing.”

“You want to rap?” Minho was dumbfounded.

“Yeah?” Jisung said nervously. The lightbulb above them flickered. “it's easier to freestyle a rap.”

Minho gaped at him, suddenly reminded that he had no idea what this boy was capable of.

“That's my boy,” Chan said dramatically, wiping away a nonexistent tear.

“It'll work,” Changbin assured Minho, smirking. “You should have heard his rap last week about cheesecake. It was like a Jane Austen novel on speed.”

“She had so much left to give this world!” Jisung wailed.

“Not that I would know anything about speed or Jane Austen,” Changbin quickly correctly as Chan sent him a withering look.

“I can’t feel shit, Minho-hyung.” Jisung growled, kicking at the table leg. He’d been focusing hard for a whole 5 minutes. “Are you sure there’s a river everywhere?”

“It’s not a river, it’s the skin,” Minho corrected.

“Whatever the fuck it is, I can’t feel shit!” Jisung yelled.

“Jisung!” Chan said sternly as the table spontaneously burst into flames “Control your anger.”

“FROG. SKIN.” Jisung yelled with aggressive attitude at him.

“You can swear this time,” Chan replied calmly as Hyunjin put out the table with his glass of water. “But channel your frustration into productivity.”

Water dripped off the table, filling the silence as Jisung took a deep breath.

“Fuck your _fucking_ therapy talk, I’m trying to find a fucking _invisible river_ with my _mind_ _that's apparently_ just _floating_ about the place, defying the fucking _laws of physics_ and holding two halves of the _universe_ apart and I can’t even do _fucking_ algeb- Oh I found it,” Jisung said, voice suddenly very small.

“Good job, Sungie!” Changbin cheered quietly.

Jisung stared blankly past him.

“Can you hold it, Sungie?” Minho asked gently. “Reach out with your magic.”

Jisung’s eyes closed and he reached out with his hand for something only he could see.

“It’s too slippery,” he said, changing tact from one hand to trying to trap the skin between his palms like a pesky fly.

“Not with your hands, Sungie,” Minho reminded him. “With your mind.”

“Try-” Hyunjin lifted a tentacle and stuck it to Changbin’s face. Changbin brushed him off, wiping at his cheek to no avail as a red welt bloomed.

“Mind suckers?” Jisung asked.

“Mind suckers.” Hyunjin confirmed, waving his tentacles in encouragement.

***

“Fuckity fuck fuck!” Jisung slammed the table as his mind suckers slipped off the skin once more.

“I’m just going to stab it next time.” Jisung said, holding his hands straight like knives to defeat his invisible enemy.

“Again, that would make a Gate, very illegal,” Chan reminded him.

“Just a light stabbing,” Jisung bargained, jabbing the air in demonstration.

“No.”

“But just like, really small. Baby stab.”

“No stabbing, Jisung.”

***

“Okokok, Min-hyung what’s next, quick!” Jisung said, body locked in place, eyes wide. Everyone perked up at his cry, the first he’d said anything in over an hour.

“Sing- I mean, rap- about Felix and Seungmin. Focus your energy into the skin,” Minho said.

“Shit,” Jisung said dejectly opening his eyes and lowering his hands. “I lost it.”

“You’re doing good, Sungie,” Hyunjin told him, pulling him into a tight hug. “The bestest witch I’ve ever met”

“That’s a lie,” Jisung said, hugging him back.

“No, you are the bestest,” Hyunjin said firmly and kissed his head.

**_Here to stay:_ **

Minho told himself he kept coming back to 3RACHA after work for a number of reasons.

He didn't know the bus route straight to his flat yet.

Changbin needed help with the floor.

Seungmin wanted to test a theory he had about the curse.

He had a message to pass on to Chan.

But none of those reasons explained why he inevitably stayed for dinner and crawled into bed with whoever grabbed him first when it was time to go to sleep. Or why Jeongin now waited for Minho to help with his maths homework and Hyunjin added Minho's laundry to his without asking.

"Terra's breath, I've been adopted." Minho whispered into the darkness on the fourth night.

Changbin snorted from the other side of the room. "You've only just noticed?"

"I'm a grown adult- I don't need to be adopted." Minho said crossly defending his independence.

"That hasn't stopped Chan-hyung before," Jisung pointed out and nuzzled into Minho's t-shirt. Or rather, Chan's t-shirt that Minho was wearing. The action cooled Minho's frustration but his mind still strolled back down his memories, pointing out how little he had actually been alone.

"I've not been back to my flat in three days," Minho thought aloud, suddenly realising just how ingrained they were in his life. "I should go back."

Warm tendrils of Jisung's magic wrapped around Minho's limbs and pinning him to the bed.

"No," Jisung said firmly, slinging a leg over Minho's hip for good measure. "You're adopted. You can't leave now."

"I'm not leaving," Minho soothed him, patting the witch's head in a way he knew would calm him. "You can let go, I'm going anywhere."

Jisung's magic slowly retreated, letting him move again and Minho pulled the younger boy closer to fight the goosebumps on his skin. The magic warmth never left his chest though, pressing down on his ribs.

"Sungie, let me go," Minho growled lowly in Jisung's ear, not wanting to disturb Changbin's rest any longer with their antics.

*I'm not doing anything," Jisung whined quietly, pressing his hand against Minho's cheek without the familiar warm tingle he could still feel on his chest. "See, no magic."

Minho glanced down to see the faint outline of Jisung frowning cutely at him, chin stabbing into Minho's ribs. "You're definitely doing something," Minho whispered, pulling Jisung's arm across his waist and entangling their legs. "But this time it might not be magic."


	2. There were nine in the bed

_**Changlix sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G:** _

"So, what do your parents think of you being here?" Changbin asked.

The ice cream was all gone and Felix had stolen the heelys from Jisung's feet when the witch lay down. He'd then had to run which wasn't an easy feat in heelys but was a harder feat in socks and Jisung was too lazy to chase him. However Changbin had hurried over in alarm when Felix tripped about 10 metres from the scene of the crime so he was pinned as an accomplice and had had to flee with Felix. They were now sharing a branch in a very spacious bush as the light was beginning to leave the sky.

"Here A'Choille or here Seoul?" Felix asked, stalling.

"Here A'Ch-" Changbin attempted to replicate the sound but quickly gave up. "Here. With us. Permanently."

Felix pulled a face and made a slashing motion across his neck.

"Not good?" Changbin genuinely asked. _Really?_ Since when has that motion had positive connotations?

"My mum didn't want me to go and she still doesn't want me to be here." Felix admitted, kicking at the ground. "I suppose the separation is worse too since she doesn't get to hear from me or know how much time has passed."

"And what about your dad?" Changbin asked thoughtfully. "Does he feel the same?"

"Changbin-hyung.." Felix didn't know how to break this to him. "The Fae aren't really… monogamous." He held his breath and waited for the criticism.

"So you don't know who your dad is?" Changbin said eventually.

"No, I know who he is," Felix said. "We're just, raised communally?" _Why was he saying it like a question. It wasn't a question, it was a fact._ "Often one parent will take a role as the primary caregiver but everyone helps. My father's around but so is everyone. Does that make sense?"

"Um," Changbin twisted a ring around his finger. "All the words made sense. But I don't, I don't understand why your dad…" He pouted as it got too difficult for him to express his thoughts.

"Ok." Felix swung his legs, making the branch sway as he tried not to let the panic rise thinking about how different their upbringings were. "The fae believe that love isn't permanent. So you stay with someone a night, a few weeks, a couple of years, and then when the feelings fade you move on.

"So my parents _were_ together and they _did_ love each other but now they don't. My mum has loved other people and my dad has loved other people and that's normal. For us. I stayed with my mum until I was independent and I have an older sister that stayed with my mum before me and a younger sister that stayed with my dad."

"And your sisters..? Are they..?" Changbin asked quietly.

"Yeah, half-sisters." Felix said, pleased that he wasn't ashamed to admit it. "I don't know them well though."

"My parents are still together," Changbin said. "They will always be together. Dwarves don't .." Changbin paused to find the right words. "Dwarves don't give up on love, even when it's gone."

"I'm sorry," Felix said. He didn't know if it was the right thing to say but it sounded awful to be trapped with someone forever. Surely you would get bored of them.

"No, it's fine," Changbin waved his hands. "My parents still love each other a lot. I'd like to have that one day," he added wistfully. "A person that's just for me."

"Forever?" Felix asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Changbin looked at him. Really looked at him, as if he were trying to memorise all Felix's freckles and the exact shade of his eyes. It was a little unnerving. "Maybe not forever," Changbin allowed. "But for a really long time, I hope."

Felix broke his gaze and stared down at his swinging feet. "Changbinnie-hyung, I really really like you." He took a deep breath but it didn't seem to bring any more oxygen into his blood as his head still felt dizzy. "I like you more than I've liked anybody else but I don't know if it will be forever."

Changbin's hand found his on the branch and he precariously let go to intertwine their fingers.

"Lixie, I love you," Changbin said, so sure and steady with his words. "And I know you love me too because you've said it before-"

"But I've told lots of people I love them," Felix said in panic. "And-"

"Lixie-"

"-I can't-"

"Felix."

"-promise that-"

" _Yongbok_!" Changbin said exasperatedly.

Felix frowned with distaste. "I don't like that name."

"I know, sunshine, I know," Changbin said fondly. "You weren't listening. I think what Minho joked about scared you a bit earlier, yeah?"

"Yeah," Felix mumbled. "I thought you wouldn'twantmetoflirtwithyouanymore."

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, Lixie?" Changbin smiled.

Felix whined. This was so embarrassing. "I thought you wouldn't want me to flirt. With you. Anymore."

"Why would I not want that, sunshine?" Changbin asked. The nickname was usually used on very rare special occasions and now Changbin had used it twice in one conversation. It made Felix's insides squirm. "It makes me feel special and as long as you want to flirt with me I'd like it very much if you did."

"And if I wanted to kiss you?" Felix said bravely. And then his bravery was used up and he had to add, "but maybe not forever."

Changbin grinned. "We'd have to stop sometimes," he joked. "For food and sleep and-"

"Ok, ok, ok!" Felix stopped him. "Seriously Hyung. Can I kiss you?”

“Not just once, right?” Changbin asked, sounding very young all of a sudden.

“Not just once,” Felix confirmed. “Promise.” He held out a pinkie and Changbin linked their hands together, completing the vow with a press of their thumbs. Felix jumped off the branch, squelching into the mulch under the bush. Getting the mud out of Jisung’s heelys would be a pain. “Come on,” he urged Changbin. “Jump down. It will be easier to kiss standing up.”

“We’re doing it _now?_ ,” Changbin asked. “Right now.”

“Yeah?” Felix said. There was no point waiting now they’d finally agreed to move forward. “And probably tomorrow and the next day and the- OH FUCK!”

Changbin had fallen off the branch.

“Hyungie are you ok?” Felix asked, kneeling in the dirt beside him. Thankfully the mud had softened the impact.

“You can’t _say_ things like that,” Changbin whined, clutching at his chest. “You only just said you wanted to kiss me.”

Felix frowned down at him. “Yes. And you agreed, right? I thought you agreed?”

“I did!” Changbin sat up and winced as he discovered the mud had gotten in his hair. “But you _only just_ said you wanted to kiss me.”

“Do… I have to wait?” Felix asked. He had been so sure it was fine.

“Well, it’s just-” He huffed before gathering his thoughts and shooting them rapid fire into Felix’s heart. Like an automatic rifle. With words. “In dwarven culture you normally wait a week or so, sometimes a month after explicit verbal interest is shown before initiating a formal relationship.” Changbin suddenly became very interested in the mud on his hands.

“A month!” Felix was horrified. There was no way he was waiting that long to kiss Changbin. A memory played in his head unbidden at the thought. “Wait, what about when you kissed my cheek before?”

Changbin blushed crimson. “That was very improper. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“But you’ve already kissed me,” Felix reasoned. “So kissing me now should be fine.”

Changbin hid his face in his hands and when he took his hands away there was mud streaked on his cheeks and above his right eyebrow. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. “I’ve not kissed anybody properly before.”

“It’s easy,” Felix assured him, kneeling across Changbin’s thighs. They were both already muddy- no point getting up now. He wiped at the mud on Changbin’s face but it only streaked. Oh well, it would be mud on his face soon. Changbin’s actions were bolder than his words and he gripped Felix’s hips, tugging him down to sit in his lap. Felix was taller than him this way and he tilted Changbin’s face up with a finger under his chin. “Just copy what I do, ok?”

“Ok,” Changbin echoed. Felix didn’t give him a chance to change his mind and quickly tilted his head to peck Changbin on the lips. Changbin froze up so Felix leant back to give him space. This was probably quite a lot for him.

“Are you ok?” Felix asked.

“Do it again,” Changbin said. “I think I blacked out.”

Felix giggled and moved in slower for a second kiss. “Are you paying attention this time?” he whispered against Changbin’s lips. Changbin’s eyes were darting between his and it was getting disorientating. “Pick an eye, babe,” Felix suggested. “Or close yours.”

“But you’re so pretty,” Changbin protested, closing his eyes. _Terra, he was the sweetest boy in the universe._

“Focus on your lips,” Felix told him. “No blacking out this time.” Just as he leaned in Changbin stuck his lips out in a pout and Felix lost any control he had over the situation. “No, Binnie stop.” He giggled and poked Changbin in the side. “Binnie-hyuuuuung.” Changbin’s trout pout morphed into the most exaggerated sulking sad pout. “Stop! Stop it! Let me kiss you.”

Changbin didn’t stop so Felix felt he deserved what he got. With a hand at the back of Changbin’s neck he sucked on Changbin’s lower lip and pushed his tongue into Changbin’s open mouth. Changbin became putty in his hands.

"What were you _doing?"_ Hyunjin asked when he spotted Felix and Changbin walking towards them. He could only see the fronts of them under the park spotlights and not the worst of the mud coating Chsngbin's back.

"Changbin-hyung fell over," Felix offered. He hoped that Changbin would fill in the gaps in his truths with believable lies. But then again, Seungmin was here so perhaps it would be best if Changbin didn't speak at all.

"You're the one covered in mud though," Jeongin pointed out. Changbin gave a slow, embarrassed turn and laughter broke out from their friends.

"I'm not walking back with you," Minho said once he had ascertained that the boy was unhurt.

"My heelys!" Jisung cried as Felix and Changbin fully stepped into the light.

"They're fine," Felix said quickly. "Just need a wash."

"They're not fine, they're _brown!"_

"I can't lie, Sung. They're fine." Felix said. Somehow Jisung was still falling for that line. "Do you want one for the ride home?"

"Channie-hyung is going to be disappointed in you," Hyunjin sang as he skipped up the street.

"Not if he doesn't _see,"_ Changbin growled, leaning his full weight towards the road. "Can you help?"

Hyunjin stopped to wait on them as he considered. "Only because Felix is so nice," he decided and grabbed Felix's hand.

"I'm nice!" Jisung protested from beside him. He and Felix had a heely on each, their arms wrapped tightly around each other as Changbin and Minho pushed them from behind. Felix had no idea how they managed to get so many people to agree to this but he wasn't complaining.

There was just a short section of hill left before it flattened out towards home but the addition of Hyunjin's strength nearly sent them to the bottom of the hill again as Felix was pulled away from Jisung, his main balancing support. In all honesty, this was more of a core workout than it was fun.

"Minnie!" Hyunjin called out to the boys ahead of them. "Come help Jisung!"

They were getting a lot of looks from passersby now. Felix couldn't blame them.

"Why would I do that?" Seungmin asked but ran back to prevent them toppling like dominoes.

"Because you love us," Jisung grinned, clasping Seungmin's arm.

Seungmin pulled a face. "Debatable." He helped them anyway.

"Right, you can push yourselves now," Minho said when they reached the top of the hill. "And we can pretend to have nothing to do with you."

"Too late, Hyung!" Jisung said excitedly. "Everyone on the street has seen you with us now!"

"I hope they were at least looking at my ass," Minho muttered. "My ass looks great at that angle."

"Nah, they were looking at Binnie-hyung's ass," Jeongin informed them from where he was leaning against a wall, judging them. "His is covered in mud."

“Their loss,” Minho said grumpily.

**_Teasing and finding out:_ **

“Felix! Not inside!” Chan admonished him. “Put your wings away.”

That wasn’t fair. He hadn’t even broken anything. “But-”

Seungmin reached over, under the cover of Felix’s wing and pinched Felix on the back. It was just the right spot to forcefully half-fold his wings which is why Felix knew it had to be Seungmin that did it.

“Minnie!” he complained.

“ _You’re hogging Hyunjinnie,”_ Seungmin grumbled quietly. “ _Go get your own interest, and a t-shirt.”_

 _“He’s all yours,”_ Felix assured him, fully folding his wings and pushing off Hyunjin’s chest. “ _Or should I say half yours?”_

Seungmin raised a fist. It was riskier to use fae to keep secrets these days as not only was Chan fluent but Jisung was learning more to improve his magic. Most worryingly, Jeongin, Hyunjin and Changbin were starting to understand.

“ _Half?”_ Hyunjin echoed.

“It’s just a joke, Jinnie,” Felix said quickly, standing up to walk over them to Changbin. Changbin was waiting with a smile and zipped one of his own hoodies around Felix before pulling him into a hug.

“What are you trying to do?” Changbin whispered in his ear as Felix settled against his chest.

“They won’t start it themselves,” Felix whispered back. “I’m helping.”

“Helping-helping or Minho-hyung-helping?” Changbin asked, lacing their fingers together in Felix’s lap.

“Minho-hyung’s method worked, didn’t it?” Felix pointed out. “Hyungs fucked and now they’re fine and we’re together too.”

“I’m not giving Minho-hyung the credit for that one,” Changbin said, kissing Felix’s cheek. He was getting bold.

“Yeah, that was all me,” Felix joked, unable to resist pressing his lips to Changbin’s smile now it was so close and his for the taking. “By the way- Chan-hyung gave his familial approval.”

“Hold the fuck up!” Minho’s yell burst the bubble they were in. “When did Changlix happen?”

“CHANGLIX?” Hyunjin yelled. “Did you know about this?” he immediately questioned Seungmin who stared, wide-eyed. “I _trusted_ you.”

“Innie knew too,” Seungmin said, holding up his hands. “And Chan-hyung.”

“I am your _best friend_ Seo Changbin,” Jisung said in mock hurt. “After all we’ve been through together..”

“I haven’t told anybody, Ji,” Changbin rolled his eyes. “Lix told them. I was going to tell you and Minnie-hyung tonight. Promise.”

“Wait a second..” Jisung narrowed his eyes. “ Did you two fuck in a bush?”

“ _NO!”_ Felix said with his whole chest in time with Changbin. “We just kissed,” Felix assured him. “I had to bargain with Binnie-hyung to kiss me before the traditional dwarf waiting period.” He rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of it but honestly the idea that Changbin had waived it for him meant a lot.

“Ha! Told you Binnie was uptight!” Minho laughed. He was immediately knocked to the ground by Chan who pinned him next to Jisung. “Not fair!” Minho told him. “He just got his first boyfriend. It’s my duty as his Hyung to mock him.”

“I think it’s cute,” Hyunjin said. “You’re going to get the prettiest engagement ring, Lix.”

Felix thought that was going a bit far. They’d only officially started dating a few hours ago. Changbin however, may have already thought that far as he slipped a finger inside the neck of Felix’s hoodie to put out his family ring that Felix always wore on a chain. He flashed the ring to Hyunjin before dropping it back inside the hoodie. _Wait.. were they_ already _engaged?_

**_Changbin’s family ring:_ **

"Binnie-hyung?" Felix asked quietly, wary of the others sleeping. He and Changbin were next to each other, sharing a pillow and a blanket yet only their knees were touching and he could only faintly make out Changbin’s face in the light from the street. "What does this mean?" He held up Changbin's family ring.

"Do you not remember?" Changbin asked lightly. "It means you belong."

***

Moving to A'choille has been difficult for Felix at first. He didn't speak the language, didn't understand the customs and he had had to hide his wings, which had always been a big part of his identity. It had been a struggle but he worked hard because he had friends here and he'd found a purpose in liasoning between the worlds.

However, once Felix had gone on a trip back to Truailleach and the time lines had been very different. He'd been gone for over a month while it has been less than a day for him. He'd been scared to cross the skin after that, feeling like he didn't belong to either life, either world, as both moved on without him every time he left.

Changbin had soothed his worry by giving him his family ring, something undeniably from A'choille and a reminder that his family would wait for him no matter how long he was away for. That ring kept him grounded more then he would like to admit.

***

"Belong here A'choille or belong here Seoul? Felix asked, echoing their earlier conversation.

"Belong here with me," Changbin said, holding Felix's hand to his chest.

"Hyung, does that mean it's an engagement ring?" Felix asked cautiously. "That means 'promise to marry', right?" The fae didn't do engagement or marriage for obvious reasons but he'd watched enough TV to know that it was a big deal here.

"It's not an engagement ring, sunshine." Changbin smiled and reached up to smooth the wrinkles in Felix's brow. "It means you are my family."

"That's kind of the same thing," Felix argued weakly. "And we have a family ring." He held up the simple silver band they all wore.

***

Minho had been gifted with his a few weeks after he arrived and wore it proudly. The rings were Changbin's equivalent of Chan's official adoption and he was generally more hesitant to give them out. However, the way Minho cared for Jisung earned him one almost instantly and Changbin had started work on the ring as soon as Minho moved in. Jisung's 'welcome to the family' gift was to stop trying to fight you and it took longer to for some to get their present than others. Minho again, had been an odd case as even Felix had had to defend himself against the fiery witch.

Changbin's rings were engraved with the words 'I am YOU'. Apparently it was originally supposed to say 'I am with you' but Changbin had been working so hard on the flow of his script the first time he made one that he missed a word. Chan had refused a replacement and so the mistake stuck.

***

“My family wouldn’t recognise a marriage to a fae,” Changbin said. “So while in other cases this might signify a promise of family unity, like an engagement, it doesn’t here.” Changbin sounded slightly saddened by that. “For you, it’s just a promise of protection. If you were to show the ring to any Seo they would help you, even though you are fae. It’s the most I can do to look after you when you travel through the skin alone.”

So it _was_ like an engagement but also far more powerful than that. Changbin had essentially given his entire family a debt to Felix which was insane. The fae would never give one person so much potential. Felix could count the fae he owed a debt to on one hand and even that was considered a risk. Seungmin technically only owed Felix but he was one chocolate milk from being free and he had far more people owing him.

“I can take the ring back if you’d like,” Changbin said. “I really did only mean it as protection and a reminder of home but I don’t want you to feel pressured by wearing it."

"No!" Changbin's family ring was special and it reminded Felix how much Changbin cared for him. "I'm going to keep it forever," Felix vowed, turning over and curling up on his side to protect the ring from it's original owner.

"Ok Lixie." Changbin was amused by his antics and curled around Felix's back, slipping one arm across his waist. "You can keep it forever."

**_Lucky the boy and Jeongin the dog:_ **

"Good boy,” Seungmin cooed, leaning over to stroke all over Jeongin’s head and distract him from the situation. “Best boy, Innie. Such a cute puppy.” Felix could hear Jeongin’s tail thumping against Chan’s side.

“Your dog is very big,” a young girl said shyly from across the seats. She was dressed in a yellow sundress and held her mother’s hand like a lifeline.

“Are you scared of big dogs?” Jisung asked her. “He’s a very nice dog, not scary at all.” There weren't many large dogs in the city since there wasn't much space to house and exercise them and neighbours would often complain.

The girl looked up at Jeongin warily. “What’s his name?”

“Jeongin,” Chan told her. “But we call him Innie.” Hyunjin found this hilarious and started cracking up.

“That’s not a good name for a dog,” the girl said with a frown, getting bolder. More people in the carriage were watching the interaction now in that side-ways glance way that everyone used on public transport.

“What’s a good name for him then?” Seungmin asked and grinned wickedly at Jeongin.

“Lucky,” the girl decided. “That’s a dog’s name.”

“Ah, well we can’t call him that,” Minho told the little girl with exaggerated disappointment. “This boy is already called ‘Lucky.’” He dropped a hand onto the top of Felix’s head. Felix was going to kill him the second they got off this train. Changbin squeezed Felix’s hand and smiled when their eyes met. Felix was still going to kill Minho once they got off the train.

“Why did your mummy name you Lucky?” the girl asked.

“Yuna,” Her mother scolded her. “Don’t be rude.”

“It’s fine,” Felix told her with a smile. It wasn’t Yuna’s fault she was curious. “My name is Felix,” he said to Yuna, pronouncing the word carefully. “It means ‘lucky’ in English.”

“Why isn’t your name Korean?” Yuna asked. It just wasn’t Felix’s lucky day.

“His name in Korean is Yongbok,” Changbin said proudly. Wow, not even a day as his boyfriend and Felix was already betrayed. Felix's hit list was getting longer.

“That’s a funny name,” Yuna said. “You should be called Jeongin and your dog can be called Yongbok.”

"I'm going to stick with Felix," Felix told Yuna.

Yuna frowned disapproving. "Ok," she said. Changbin made eye contact with Jisung and started giggling. Felix dug his nails into the back of Changbin's hand as a warning for him to stop but Changbin was too far gone.

"We have to get off now, Yuna," her mother leant down to tell her. "Say goodbye to the nice men."

"Bye bye Yongbok and Yongbok's friends and Yongbok's puppy," Yuna said. They waved back and her mother herded her off the train along with the rush of people.

"Give me the pink shoe back," Felix said crossly, toeing off his black one and standing on Changbin's heel. "You don't deserve to match me anymore." He wasn't that upset but it wasn't doing great things to his self-esteem to have everyone laughing at his name.

"No no!" Changbin cried out, trying to wriggle his foot back into his shoe and grabbing onto Felix. "I'm sorry, Jeongin. I won't do it again!"

"YA!" Felix raised his shoe.

"Aww, it's their first fight," Jisung said, snapping a picture. "What a special day."

"Can you just call me Felix," Felix asked, tired of the joking. "Please."

"Only some of the time, sunshine," Changbin said, giving up on his shoe and pulling Felix into a hug. "I'm sorry, Lixie. It was a joke," he whispered and Felix felt him press a kiss into his hair.

"It's fine," Felix admitted grudgingly. "I see why it's funny."

"Urgh, you made up immediately," Jisung pulled a face in disgust as he angled his phone for a selfie with Felix and Changbin in the background. Minho held him steady by the neck of his hoodie as the train braked and then had to adjust very quickly to prevent Jisung headbutting a pole. Jisung was unaware, too focused on checking the quality of his shots.

"Why are you taking photos?" Felix asked, leaning into Changbin's side.

"I'm documenting your relationship, Yongbok," Jisung said. He hadn't promised to stop teasing but Felix kind of expected that from him. It wasn't so bad when they said his Korean name normally. "It's my duty as your future best man," Jisung added. Not this again.

"Who says I'd pick you?" Felix said.

"Changbinnie-hyung would pick me," Jisung said confidently. "I'm his best friend."

"I'd pick Channie-hyung," Changbin said. _Ha. Serves Jisung right for calling him Yongbok_. Felix tried to focus on the warm feeling of justice and not the mention of his own hypothetical wedding.

"That's great Binnie," Chan said wearily. They hadn't even got to the shop yet. "Can you put your shoes back on now? We're on the subway."

**_The sunshine twins:_ **

He stayed on his front by Changbin’s side, pillowing his head on his hands just under Changbin’s arm. That was ok but now he was barely touching Changbin and while his presence alone was comforting, skin contact would be better. He gently kicked the underside of Changbin’s knee until he could slide his leg underneath and wiggled his butt to shuffle down the bed to find the best position.

“Are you done?” Changbin asked with a huff of laughter.

“Can I open my wings?” Felix asked. If he was sleeping on his front he could at least half-open them and let them breathe for a while.

“No,” Jisung grumbled from across the room. He was in a mood because he felt like he was being left out. It didn’t help that Minho had jumped at the chance to get Felix’s bed to himself for the night.

“Didn’t ask you,” Felix retorted.

“Didn’t ask to be a third wheel for the rest of my life,” Jisung huffed. “And yet..”

Felix felt Changbin sigh more than he heard it. “Sungie, you’re not a third wheel; you’re my best friend. I thought you were ok with me and Felix dating.”

The silence stretched in the dark room and Felix reached for Changbin’s hand. Nothing was worth losing Jisung- that was something they both agreed on without having to talk about it.

“I’m happy for you,” Jisung said, sounding anything but. “Really. You’ve been dancing around each other since day one and I’m glad one of you finally got the balls to do something about it. But you’re going to want to spend even more time together now you’re official so I’m either third wheeling or I’m alone.” Jisung’s voice cracked on the last word and Felix was out of Changbin’s bed and across the room in an instant.

In the dark he couldn’t quite see where Jisung was but he always slept on his side so Felix guessed where his shoulder would be and dropped his hand. Jisung had curled up into a ball so Felix’s hand landed on his hand but that was just as good. It told him where the boy was and he wrestled the duvet out of Jisung’s grip to force his way in next to him.

Jisung squirmed away but he had noodle arms and Felix locked him in a hug in no time. “I could never leave my twin behind,” Felix said fiercely. “Binnie-hyung can be the third wheel.”

“We’re not twins, Lix.” Jisung protested weakly. He had given up fighting Felix’s hug but stayed in his little self-pity ball, not hugging back. “You don’t even have a birthday.”

“I do!” Felix said. It hurt a little to hear that from Jisung since the witch had been the one to proudly announce that they were twins in the first place. “15th of September.” It was the first day he crossed the skin and therefore his ‘birth’ into this world.

“What year?” Jisung asked.

“Every year,” Felix said confidently and Jisung giggled, loosening his ball to turn and tickle Felix’s stomach.

“2000, Sunshine.” Changbin called from across the room and Felix could hear the smile in his voice.

“2000?” Felix asked. “But Channie-hyung is only like 300 or something?”

“The year 2000.” Jisung said, relaxing and cuddling into Felix’s side. “That’s when I was born so we pretend you and Seungminnie and Hyunjinnie were born the same year. Channie-hyung was born in the year 1797.”

“But how do you know?” Felix asked. They were really obsessed with numbers over here. “Who was counting?”

“The year?” Changbin asked.

“Yeah, who was counting to 2000? That’s a lot of years- what if they lost count and you’re actually born in 2001?”

“Lots of people were counting,” Changbin said as Jisung shook with silent laughter.

“And who started the counting?” Felix asked. There were many flaws in this counting thing. Like the time. Who was checking that it had been 24 hours? 24 seemed a very strange number for Terra to decide to stick to. Five was a good number. Why didn’t she choose five?

“A human started the counting,” Changbin said patiently. “There was other counting before that but the human got mad at some other humans and decided to start from one again.”

That sounded bad. If a human could just choose to start from one again at any time then what was the point of the counting at all?”

“Why did you tell him that, Hyung?” Jisung said crossly to Changbin, pulling Felix close. “You know the months freak him out.” The months did freak Felix out. Why did some of them get more days? And why were there so many of them?

“I just answered his question,” Changbin protested.

“Don’t worry about the years, Lix,” Jisung told him soothingly. “You just have to remember that if somebody asks you were born in 2000. Same as me, yeah?”

“Because we’re twins,” Felix said firmly. That was the one thing about this counting he could get behind.

“Yes, because we’re twins,” Jisung allowed.

“Does this mean you’re not coming back to my bed?” Changbin asked from across the room.

Felix couldn’t see him but Changbin’s night-vision was better so he blew a kiss in Changbin’s general direction. “Twins come before boyfriends,” he said.

“Oooh, are you guys official?” Jisung teased. Felix hit him with a pillow.

“The fae don’t have a word for it,” Felix said, feeling embarrassed. He wasn’t about to explain interest now. “I thought that was the right Korean word.”

“Humans normally ask first,” Changbin explained. “Before that they say they are ‘dating’. But you can call me your boyfriend.”

Jisung squealed and buried his face in Felix’s arm. Felix didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

“What do dwarves call it?” he asked. It would be much cuter if they used a word from one of their cultures and dwarves seemed to be a lot more romantic than the fae.

“Dwarves skip straight to fiancé,” Jisung laughed.

“Actually, it’s ‘betrothed’.” Changbin corrected him shyly. “But I think we should stick to ‘boyfriends’, Lixie.”

“Good plan,” Felix said weakly.

Jisung squealed again, squeezing all of the air out of Felix. “Ahhh, you guys are so cute.”

"Stop it," Felix grumbled, digging his fingers into Jisung's side.

"You aaare," Jisung said, pressing his smile against Felix's temple. "And I'm going to tease you about it forever."

"Go to sleep, Sung," Changbin grumbled.

"For. ever." Jisung whispered but untangled himself from Felix and curled up on his side. He breathed out with a sigh and pulled the duvet over his shoulder. He wasn’t afraid of the heat like Changbin was. “Goodnight, Hyung.”

“Goodnight, Sungie,” Changbin replied sleepily. “Night, Lixie.”

“Goodnight, Binnie-hyung.” Felix said. He shuffled closer to Jisung so the duvet didn’t have a gap at his back and their hands touched. “Goodnight Sungie,” he whispered, barely more than a breath between them.

“You can go back to your boyfriend, you know,” Jisung said. “I don’t mind.”

Felix shook his head. He wouldn’t be able to sleep next to Changbin knowing Jisung was worrying himself across the room all alone. “I want to sleep with you.”

Felix woke up entangled with Jisung and the duvet in equal parts. It wasn’t exactly comfortable but he wasn’t inclined to move. The door squeaked as it opened and Felix accepted that he wouldn’t be getting to drift off again.

“I see it was a bros before hoes kind of a night,” Minho commented cheekily.

"What does that make you?" Felix retorted sleepily. His knowledge of Korean might be patchy but Minho and Jisung had made sure some holes were patched earlier than others.

"Touche." Minho came into his line of sight and sat at the headboard to pull Jisung's hair up into a mohawk before letting it flop back down over his face. "You have to get up now if you want any of the meat for breakfast. Innie's eating like we've starved him."

"Do you think it's from the shifts?" Felix asked, forcefully, pulling Jisung off him. Jisung just fell onto his front and kept sleeping.

Minho shrugged. "Rats have high metabolisms." He slapped Jisung lightly on the cheek, imitating the hollow sound it made and then got up to leave the room.

“Wha’s habnin?” Jisung slurred. He lifted his head off the pillow and squinted .

“Minho-hyung was bullying you,” Felix informed him. Did it count as bullying if the slaps were delivered with a tender smile?

“Did he draw on my face?” Jisung asked, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“No.” Felix frowned at his friend. “He slapped you and messed with your hair.”

“Ah,” Jisung said almost fondly. “That’s fine.”

“NICE,” Felix said and got a solid slap across Jisung’s cheek before he got up and ran from the room.

“HEY!” Jisung yelled but Felix had already skipped to the dining room.

**_Building a bed:_ **

“Ah, I’m sorry. We were shut for lunch,” Chan explained. “You should have just pressed the buzzer.”

“It’s ok,” the girl said quietly, stepping into the shop and standing to the side just inside the entrance. “We’re early.”

“Watch you don’t trip on the boxes.”

“Sorry!” Felix said, scrambling in front of them to move the bed parts into the new bedroom. He tugged at a small box but it must have contained rocks because it barely moved.

Chan nudged it into the room with one foot as if it weighed nothing and Felix toppled backwards onto his ass. The boy, who was much taller than Felix, reached out a hand to help him up.

“Are you here for the, uh, session, too?” the boy asked politely.

“Oh no- I live here!” Felix smiled widely. It still filled him with pride. “Channie-hyung is my Dad.”

“Not your Dad,” Chan countered as the boy looked on in confusion.

“Are my Dad.” Felix said with emphasis. He couldn’t lie so it was definitely true, Chan had to accept it.

“He’s adopted,” Chan told the kids following him. “If we hear crashes next door later it’ll be him and the other kids. They’re going to be assembling a bed.”

“How many kids do you have?” the boy asked as Chan took pity on Felix and moved all the boxes for him. Jisung peered out of the room, brandishing a pair of scissors and smiled dangerously.

“Sung be careful where you point those!” Chan said before processing the question. “Uh, six?”

“Seven!” Felix corrected him and Chan’s eyes went wide in horrified shock. “MINHO-HYUNG, CHANNIE-HYUNG FORGOT ABOUT YOU!”

“How could you forget Minho-hyung!” Jisung gasped, reappearing with the scissors.

“I didn’t forget Minho!” Chan bluffed, holding up his hands. “He’s an adult.”

“You take that back!” Minho said, coming up behind Jisung. The kids for the therapy session looked on in concern and the girl backed slowly down the corridor.

“I’m telling everyone,” Felix said with a wild grin and ran upstairs before Chan could stop him.

***

“I think we’re missing parts,” Changbin said after what was probably too long spent assembling the bed.

“What parts?” Jisung replied. “It’s, like, nearly in one piece.”

“Yeah. _Nearly.”_ Changbin replied. “There’s not enough screws.”

“What’s a screw?” Felix asked and Changbin held up one of the tiny metal parts he was attaching. _Ah._

“Do we need all of them?” Felix asked mildly.

“Yes,” Changbin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What happened, Lix?”

“It’s not lost!” Felix said quickly. “It’s just,” he glanced over at the chest of drawers, “under there.”

“That is excellent,” Minho said sarcastically, enjoying himself far too much. “Someone get Hyunjinnie.”

***

“It’s too far under,” Hyunjin said, wedging his fingers under the gap.

“For _hands,”_ Minho said. “Shift and use your tentacles.”

“But it’s dusty,” Hyunjin whined, sitting up.

“Jinnie, come on,” Jisung wheedled him. “We’ve done all the hard work.”

“No you didn’t,” Hyunjin retorted. “Binnie-hyung did and you just made jokes and threw shit about.”

“How did you know?” Jisung whispered.

“I live with you, dumbass,” Hyunjin replied. “I’ll shift and get the screw if someone gets a bucket of water for me to clean off in afterwards. I’m not shifting back to legs with the taste of dust.”

“I’ll get it!” Felix offered and ran through to Changbin’s workshop to find one. Seungmin was leafing through the records in the shopfront.

“Anything interesting?” Felix asked him.

“Someone bought wolfsbane last week,” Seungmin replied. “And beeswax. What a weird combination.”

Felix was about to tell him that it had been an old lady making soap when the door opened. “Innie!!!” Felix cried. “I missed you!”

“Has anything interesting happened?” Jeongin asked, accepting Felix’s hug grudgingly.

“We’re on house arrest because there’s a rogue vamp who turned a kid at Minho-hyung’s work,” Seungmin told him, wrinkling his nose. “Apparently fae taste too nice to be wandering alone.”

“But Channie-hyung let me be out alone?” Jeongin gasps. “I thought I was his favourite.”

“You are,” Seungmin replied. “He forgot Minho-hyung earlier and said he only had six kids.”

“Wow,” Jeongin said. “Darktime Dad has become Deadbeat Dad.”

Seungmin gasped. “And he’s already dead. That’s perfect!”

“I know I am,” Jeongin said smugly. “Where are the others?”

“Destroying The Bed,” Seungmin said. “They asked Hyunjinnie for help so you know it’s going badly.”

Jeongin’s eyes lit up in interest.

***

“I have a bucket!” Felix announced as he returned to the bedroom-in-the-making. “Also an Innie and a Seungminnie.”

“It’s everything I wanted!” Hyunjin exclaimed. Seungmin blushed, ducking his head to shake his fringe forward and Jeongin quickly took a step back to be out of range of Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was shifted and wrapped around the chest of drawers to avoid touching the ground with his tentacles. Each reached about a metre in length when they were stretched but currently seven of the eight were curled around the corners and top of the furniture while the eighth searched underneath for the screw. His lower half clothes were piled messily to one side and Jisung was lying on his front to try and direct Hyunjin’s search.

“Left…. Other left.”

Hyunjin closed one eye as he concentrated and then squealed and pulled his tentacle back. “What was that?!”

“A marble?” Jisung guessed. “I dunno. Pick it up.”

“I’m not picking it up if you don’t know what it is,” Hyunjin said crossly. “Just tell me where the screw is.”

“Left.” Jisung said as Hyunjin tentatively reached under the chest of drawers again. “ _Other left.”_

“Terra, you’re shit at this,” Hyunjin complained. “Minnie, help me.”

Seungmin crouched down beside Jisung and one of Hyunjin’s other tentacles briefly let go to touch along his face. Seungmin didn’t even flinch though Felix definitely would have. Instead he lightly rubbed the non-sucker side as it let go again and lay down to look for the screw.

“To the window, Jinnie,” he instructed.

“To the wall!” Minho yelled happily and then frowned when he got strange looks. “Wow you children need an education.”

“Ok Boomer,” Jisung replied, sitting up and rubbing his back.

“Not a boomer,” Minho grumbled as he helped Jisung up.

“Ahh!” Hyunjin screamed again. “That was cold. Tastes like metal.”

“That’s it,” Seungmin said. “Bring it out.”

Hyunjin deposited the screw in Changbin’s waiting hand and Felix watched in fascination as he repositioned to the top of the chest of drawers. His limbs moved so fluidly and Felix had no idea how he kept track of them all, especially when he normally only had four. Seungmin made the mistake of standing up next to Hyunjin and in seconds Hyunjin had moved off of the furniture and onto him, sling his human arms around Seungmin’s shoulders to hang off his back.

“Get off,” Seungmin said half-heartedly, shrugging as if that would make any difference. The ends of Hyunjin’s tentacles had snaked under his shirt to stick to his skin and Felix knew from experience they wouldn’t come off again unless Hyunin wanted them to.

“No,” Hyunjin replied. “Lix, pass the bucket.” Felix dropped it by Seungmin’s feet and Hyunjin stuck his one dusty tentacle in, shaking it aggressively. “Yuck yuck yuck.”

“Don’t wipe that on me!” Seungmin warned but Hyunjin did it anyway.

Meanwhile another tentacle had wandered off and ensnared Jeongin's wrist to tug him closer. Felix watched as Hyunjin redistributed his weight between the two boys and then a tentacle reached for him. Felix held out a hand and Hyunjin touched it lightly, the suckers barely pulling at his skin before retreating back and investigating somewhere else. Hyunjin rarely shifted voluntarily since it happened so often out of fear but when he was comfortable Felix found it fascinating to watch the level of control Hyunjin had, even when he wasn’t really paying attention.

“Done!” Changbin called proudly. Felix hadn’t even realised he was still working. The bed was complete- a solid black metal frame tightly screwed together with very little contribution from Felix. He had mostly been swordfighting Jisung with the legs.

One of Hyunjin’s tentacles reached out, grabbed the headboard and pulled. The bed shook but stayed together. “Good job,” he said appraisingly and pulled off of it with a pop. “Nap time to test it?”

There was an immediately apparent flaw with the nap time plan. They didn't have any bedding. Every other bed in the house was a single as well so they didn't have any they could borrow.

"Someone has to go buy some," Jisung said, looking pointedly to the 14-limbed entanglement that was Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jeongin.

"No," Hyunjin replied, pulling Seungmin and Jeongin closer so they had to brace off each other's shoulders to prevent knocking heads. "Send Changbin."

"I just built this whole bed," Changbin grouched. "I'm not getting the bedding too."

"Well it's got to be one of you three," Minho said. "Probably more than one to carry everything. Hyunjin just let go."

"No," Hyunjin said petulantly. "Let me stay like this until I shift back."

“You’re kinda heavy, Hyung,” Jeongin complained, trying to redistribute some of Hyunjin’s weight by shuffling closer to Seungmin. “Can we sit down?

"That is opposite of what we need to happen," Minho said but they sat anyway.

Hyunjin moved to Jeongin's lap and kept all of his tentacles off the floor by sticking them to the other boys. Seungmin took one that was not wrapped around his waist and coated it in water from the bucket with his hand. The mottled surface got shinier and Hyunjin shifted from a sandy colour to a deep red and back before settling on red. After that Hyunjin started presenting each tentacle to Seungmin despite having his own hands to do it with. Instead he lay back against Jeongin's chest with his eyes closed as he focused on the feedback from eight individually functioning tentacles. Two were wrestling Jeongin as the shifter boy tried in vain to prevent his arms being trapped to his sides and another was drifting up through the collar of Seungmin's shirt to touch along his jawbone. They were in their own world and pretty quickly soaked through as Hyunjin would wrap his damp limbs back around the other boys.

"I don't think they're going to the shop," Jisung whispered loudly.

"Really?" Minho replied in the same volume, heavily laced with sarcasm.

"I'm not staying if Jinnie is flashing," Changbin said, looking embarrassed and avoiding watching the scene on the floor. "Duvet, covers and sheet?" he asked Minho.

"Yeah," Minho handed over his card. "Find the ugliest covers you can."

"I'm not flashing!" Hyunjin protested, his tentacles suddenly becoming startling white. He pulled them all back towards himself and slipped out of Jeongin's lap to shift back to human. Jisung threw him his clothes and he dressed quickly.

"I'll come with you to the shop, Hyung," Hyunjin offered, pulling Changbin out of the room.

If that wasn't suspicious behaviour Felix didn't know what was.

**_InMin...Jin:  
_ **

The kids had collectively agreed to be quiet and _sensible_ while Chan was resting which proved to be more of a challenge than it should have been. Felix was a model citizen. He curled up on the couch next to Changbin, talking quietly about prospective date locations. Jisung was also uncharacteristically unproblematic. He’d disappeared into his room to watch videos before Felix was even upstairs. Minho went the opposite direction to the dining room. Strangely, it was the school-goers that were causing problems.

Jeongin had shifted into his fox form, which wasn’t unusual, but he wouldn’t leave Seungmin’s side, which was. Normally Seungmin would mess with him by tickling him or pushing his fur the wrong way and Jeongin would dart away for a while until he was bored and came back to Seungmin’s side. And if Jeongin got distracted elsewhere Seungmin would seek him out until Jeongin growled enough to get him to leave. It was a predictable pattern.

But now Seungmin sat reading on the other end of the couch with Jeongin in his lap. Seungmin paid Jeongin no attention besides idly stroking the fur on the top of his head and Jeongin sat quietly. Quietly until someone else approached at which point he would bark at them, even when it was Hyunjin.

“What is it?” Hyunjin asked tetchily as he tried to sit on the couch. Jeongin only barked again. “I just want to sit down, Innie.” Jeongin bared his teeth and Hyunjin held up his hands.

“ _Calm down, Innie,”_ Felix said in Fae, hoping the magical language would relieve some of the unwarranted aggression. Jeongin fixed his stare on Felix. “Ok, _”_ Felix placated. “Do you want to shift back and talk about it?”

That suggestion was also denied. Hyunjin stood helplessly in the middle of the room and looked to Changbin for help. He was the most senior of them and had also known Jeongin the longest. Changbin shrugged.

“ _Minnie,”_ Felix tried. “ _Can you get your guard dog to step down?”_

Seungmin slipped his finger into his book to mark his page and looked up. “ _What?”_

 _“Innie’s trying to fight everyone,”_ Felix explained.

“ _Oh,”_ Seungmin looked down at his lap and stroked back Jeongin’s ears. “ _Why are you barking, Innie?”_ he asked. It wasn’t a question they would get an answer to but the attention seemed to calm Jeongin slightly.

“He won’t let me sit down,” Hyunjin said sadly.

“That’s weird,” Seungmin said. “Maybe you smell of something he doesn’t like?”

“He didn’t want me closer either,” Felix pointed out and I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”

Seungmin frowned and turned Jeongin’s face up to look him in the eyes. “Why are you being prickly? Is it because of earlier? I told you, I’m fine.”

“What happened earlier?” Hyunjin asked, taking a step forward and then immediately backing away as Jeongin turned aggressively towards him.

Changbin also wanted to know. He squeezed Felix’s hand twice and raised an eyebrow.

“It was nothing,” Felix said dismissively. “After you two left for the shops I teased Minnie about something but we’re fine now.”

"I told you to stop," Changbin whispered in his ear.

"It wasn't me that caused this," Felix whispered back. Changbin squeezed his waist to show he didn't believe him but left the topic alone for now.

Felix actually had a suspicion that whatever Jeongin’s problem was had to do with what had been said upstairs after they had left to get changed. Jeongin hasn't really left Seungmin's since since then and it just so happened that Hyunjin had been at the other end of the bed when they all cuddled in tests it's quality. This was the closest Hyunjin had gotten to Seungmin since his hurried departure earlier to get the bedding. Felix had been closer but not since Jeongin shifted and sitting tended to simplicity emotions so he wouldn't be surprised if Jeongin was harbouring resentment from their argument earlier that was only surfacing now.

"Let Jinnie sit down," Seungmin ordered Jeongin. "He's done nothing wrong."

Jeongin growled but lay back down. Hyunjin approached the couch hesitantly and sat down tensely.

"I'm sorry?" Hyunjin said quietly.

"Who are you saying sorry to?" Seungmin asked, keeping one hand pushing down on Jeongin's back to dissuade him from moving.

"Both of you?" Hyunjin guessed. "Innie seems to think I've done something."

"You're fine," Seungmin said, patting his leg. Hyunjin was bouncing it like crazy and Felix wouldn't be surprised if he shifted by accident.

Hyunjin wasn't convinced by Seungmin's 'truth'. He held out his hand, palm up, to Jeongin. "I'm sorry for whatever I did, Innie," he said.

Jeongin snapped his jaws next to Hyunjin's hand. Hyunjin immediately pulled his hand back and Seungmin grabbed Jeongin's about to muzzle him.

"Shift back right now," Seungmin ordered. " Jeongin wriggled to get free but Seungmin had him pinned down. "Right now!"

"It's fine!" Hyunjin protested. "I can go."

"It's not fine," Seungmin said. “He's being a dick and he shouldn't get away with it just because he's shifted."

"We should leave," Changbin murmured in Felix's ear. Felix ignored the push on his back and stopped Changbin with a hand on his thigh.

"We might need to break up a fight," Felix replied, keeping his eyes on the others. By 'we' he meant that he would. Changbin was good at calming people down but he had no idea how to throw a lunch, let alone block one.

They watched as Jeongin shifted back, his legs getting bent at odd angles as they grew. He moved off of Seungmin's lap to sit on the arm of the couch with his legs drawn up to protect himself. He looked angry and vulnerable, still liable to snap at anybody that got too close.

"I'm sorry Innie," Hyunjin repeated. "What did I do?"

Jeongin's lips went white as he pursed them, debating whether or not to speak.

"You were being all… _flirty_ with Seungminnie-hyung earlier and then when Hyung mentioned it you ran away. It made Seungminnie-hyung sad and it keeps happening."

"Innie!" Seungmin choked, blush rising on his cheeks.

"I was flirting?" Hyunjin asked, genuinely confused. "Seungminnie?"

"You're just being friendly, right?" Seungmin laughed nervously. "Innie's reading it wrong."

"I am not!" Jeongin said crossly. "You look at each other the same way everyone else in this stupid family looks at someone and would you look at that!" Jeongin's voice broke and he gestured angrily across to Felix and Changbin. "It's romantic."

Hyunjin stared open-mouthed and Seungmin buried his face in his hands.

"Innie," Changbin said gently. "You can't assume people's feelings."

"Yes you can," Felix countered.

"Lix, no," Changbin said firmly but Felix ignored him.

"You can all hate me when I'm done but you need to hear this."

"Felix!" Seungmin begged. "Don't."

"It's not going to get better if you keep silent now, Minnie," Felix replied. "Sometimes secrets are worse.”

"Hyunjin, Jeongin," Felix addressed the boys. It was best to get the biggest secrets out of the way first before Changbin tried to stop him. Seungmin had resigned to his fate with his head hung low. "Seungmin likes both of you, romantically. And he wants to date both of you at once. He's too scared to ask."

 _"Both?"_ Jeongin said in disbelief. "But Hyunjin-hyung -"

"Both," Seungmin confirmed, not looking up as he cut off Jeongin’s panicked outburst. "I'm sorry."

"Oh," Jeongin said, his voice small. He stared past Felix at the wall, deep in thought. His hands were leaving white marks on his shins as he held them tightly and the hairs on his arms were standing up. He’d be cold soon if he didn’t go and put on some clothes.

Hyunjin sat frozen in place too until Seungmin’s breath caught ever so slightly on an inhale and then his head whipped around to look at the boy sitting at his side.

"Seungminnie, are you crying?" Hyunjin asked gently, leaning down to try and see Seungmin's hidden face. Jeongin jerked out of his daze at that and nearly fell off the couch but caught himself at the last minute.

" _No,"_ Seungmin denied waterly but he had nowhere to hide with a crush on either side of him.

Hyunjin tilted Seungmin's head up. "How are you lying, Minnie? I can see the tears."

"Before they leave your eyes it's not crying," Seungmin said petulantly but now there were tracks all down his cheeks. Hyunjin brushed the tears away carefully with the cuff of his sweater.

“You’ve got to stop thinking so hard for ways to lie,” Hyunjin said. “You’re just making everything difficult.”

“I’m not the one who flirts by accident,” Seungmin grumbled, scrubbing at his eyes. “No wonder so many people follow you around at school.”

“Do I really flirt with everyone?” Hyunjin asked worriedly. “Innie? Do I?”

“No,” Jeongin admitted grudgingly, digging white lines into his skin with his finger nail. “You just have a pretty face and a nice smile and a really cute laugh so when you talk to people they get mesmerized.”

Seungmin huffed out a laugh and looked up at the boy crouched defensively above him. “You too, Innie?” he asked hopefully.

“Both,” Jeongin grunted. “I thought you only liked each other.” Seungmin held open his arms and Jeongin tipped himself over into them and cuddled into Seungmin’s chest.

“It’s pretty tough, isn’t it?” Felix heard Seungmin say as he kissed Jeongin’s hair. Hyunjin somehow got even more confused and turned to Felix and Changbin for help.

“When the flame is too bright don’t shut your eyes, Jinnie,” Changbin said sagely. It was one of his strange dwarf expressions but Felix couldn’t remember what it meant. It looked like Hyunjin didn’t understand either.

“What?” Hyunjin said. He’d taken his hands away from Seungmin and was fiddling with the cuffs of his sweater, making sweater paws and then pushing his hands back out again. He didn’t know what to do with them, too used to constantly hanging off someone. Felix reckoned they were about a minute away from tentacles.

“He means ‘think about it’,” Seungmin said. Felix had no idea where he came to that conclusion from.

“Exactly!” Changbin said. Hyunjin still looked lost. Felix sighed and took pity on him and spilled the secrets that really weren’t secret anymore.

“Seungminnie likes Innie and you. Innie likes Seungminnie and you. You are closer to both of them than anybody else I’ve seen you with-”

“-and you were flashing earlier.” Changbin added. Hyunjin flushed a dark purply colour and tried to hide it behind his hands.

“Yeah, and whatever that means,” Felix continued. “So now you have to work out if you like them as friends or boyfriends because I have a feeling they’re going to start dating each other pretty soon.”

“Ew, gross,” Jeongin said from where he was sitting naked, curled up against Seungmin’s chest. He lifted his head to pull a face at Seungmin.

“Guah” Seungmin said in his ear happily and Jeongin flinched, shifting back to his fox form with his ears pressed flat. Seungmin patted him until his ears returned to normal then pushed his fur backwards once and let him be. Jeongin curled up on his lap and stared Hyunjin down with his intelligent eyes.

"You don't have to have an answer yet, Jinnie," Seungmin said gently to Hyunjin. The mer boy was watching them interact with a conflicted frown. "I wasn't going to tell you yet anyway because I knew you weren't ready." Seungmin sent Felix a playful glower. He was already happier than Felix had seen him in months.

"Do you still love me?” Felix asked jokingly, thankful that at least this time his meddling hadn’t backfired.

“Yeah, I guess,” Seungmin sighed dramatically. He ran his hand through Jeongin’s short fur and scratched at his favour spot behind his ears. “Thanks.”

“ _See,”_ Felix said proudly to Changbin. “I _helped.”_

“You were swinging your axe blindly,” Changbin said in disagreement but he kissed Felix’s smile. “No more interfering.”

“What’s he been interfering with?” Hyunjin asked. Terra, this boy was clueless.

“You lot,” Changbin said. “He’s been teasing Minnie every day about it.”

“I had no idea,” Hyunjin said.

“Oh, _we know,”_ Felix said. It was a bit cruel but it was amazing how much Hyunjin had missed right in front of him. Hyunjin pouted and crossed his arms.

“It’s not my fault I didn’t know if nobody told me,” he grumbled. Felix estimated twenty seconds to tentacles. The information would be piling up in Hyunjin’s brain and if Hyunjin felt isolated he would shift as a mal-adapted coping mechanism. It worked well when he lived in the sewers but now it just made him even more vulnerable.

“Do you want a hug?” Changbin offered.

Hugs always made Hyunjin feel better and he crawled over to Changbin and into his lap even though he was really too tall for that to work comfortably. Changbin took his arm from around Felix’s shoulders to hug Hyunjin and Felix reluctantly pulled away from his side before he got a knee to the face. He did kind of bring this on himself.

“Fae are tricky, aren’t they?” Changbin said consolingly to Hyunjin as the mer boy hunched over to press his face into his shoulder.

“Hey!” Felix protested, feeling thoroughly put out. “When did I become the third wheel?”

“There’s nothing wrong with third wheels,” Seungmin replied. “Tricycles are very well-balanced.”

“You would think that,” Felix said scathingly. “Just you wait until I steal Innie and you’re riding the unicycle of sadness again.”

Jeongin bared his teeth and Seungmin gave Felix a satisfied smile. “I’d like to see you try.”


	3. BLINK -182

**_Curse breaking:_ **

“Jisungie?” Seungmin asked, coming into his room. Seungmin was such an oddball that Jisung paused his video. He had no idea what words would come out of Seungmin’s mouth next and he had to be ready.

“Yeah?” Jisung asked. He stayed lying down. You couldn’t fall any further if you were already lying down.

“Do you want to break Minho-hyung’s curse today?”

“ _Today?”_ Jisung asked, very glad he had chosen to say lying down. He was pretty sure his heart just tried to evacuate his body through his ass. He’d felt Minho’s curse plenty of times and the quality of that magic was well above his skill set.

“Yeah,” Seungmin said mildly. “I’m not busy and Hyung finishes work in an hour.” Easy enough for _him_ to say.

“I don’t know what to do,” Jisung pointed out.

“Draw this on Hyung’s chest,” Seungmin said, throwing his phone over. Jisung expected some complicated fae script, maybe flowing letters or intricate patterns. Not a circle. “It means ‘open’.

“A circle? Really?” Jisung asked. “The world’s oldest curse can be defeated by a circle?”

“An open circle,” Seungmin specified. “The original curse used a closed circle to lock so we need an open circle to unlock. Also you’ll have to draw it in my blood.”

“This family is fucked up,” Jisung sighed, rolling out of his bed reluctantly and handing Seungmin his phone back. “This isn’t even the first blood ritual I’ve done this week.”

Minho was immediately up for it because he had even less self-preservation than Jisung. They didn’t even have a full outline for what they were planning. As Jisung would be performing a counterspell and not an additional spell, he couldn’t rely too heavily on words as they would limit his magic’s function. Normally this was a good thing, reducing the number of explosions he created but in this case it could be like building a door over a doorway filled with concrete. No matter how nice the door it would be useless unless he also got rid of the concrete.

Jisung’s magic knew Minho’s body well. Since this idea had first been proposed he had practiced following the curse in Minho’s bloodstream. He followed it into his head and watched it at work and followed it back to his heart where it apparently came into existence from his soul. That part Jisung was less clear on but Seungmin assured him that was how it worked.

“I would like to state again for the record, that your blood is fucking weird,” Jisung said as Seungmin cut the tip of his finger. A milky, faintly blue liquid beaded at the cut. Felix and Minho bled the same but no matter how many times Felix ran into walls Jisung couldn’t get over the difference.

“ _Your_ blood is fucking weird,” Seungmin retorted, smearing it in the start of a circle on Minho’s chest. It was the closest they could get physically to his soul. He squeezed his finger and continued painting.

Minho stared up at the ceiling and yawned. “Yeah, Sung. Red’s a bit dramatic don’t you think?”

“Red is a great colour,” Jisung argued. “You look like you’ve got melted bubblegum ice cream running through your veins. Nobody likes bubblegum, it’s a gross flavour.”

“Yeji thinks I taste great,” Minho countered and Jisung leant over him in surprise to look Minho in the eyes. “No, she’s not actually bitten me,” Minho rolled his eyes as he preempted Jisung’s question. “She can just smell it when I sweat in class since sweat is the liquid part of blood.”

Jisung blinked at him as that horrifying knowledge settled in his brain. “I’m going to delete that from my memory later.” He wished he could but messing with his own memories was surprisingly difficult.

“Right, idiots,” Seungmin said, stepping away. “My part is done. Sungie, if you push that circle into his soul it should unlock the curse.”

 _Sure, as easy as that._ Jisung placed his hand over the drying mark. He could feel Minho’s heart beating and when he pushed further with his magic he could feel the curse and further still until there was a faint humming of Minho’s life force.

“I’m going to start now, Hyungie,” Jisung said, not really hearing himself speak.

Minho replied but Jisung couldn’t hear that either. He could feel the vibrations of the words under his fingertips and strangely the hum of his soul changed slightly too. Jisung didn’t know how but he knew it was Minho trusting him. He closed his eyes and focused on that hum, pushing his magic towards it.

It was working, far faster than he expected. He could feel the curse dissolving as he pushed his magic into it. He was nearly there.

“Jisung!” Seungmin said. “Stop! Terra, STOP!”

Jisung held back his magic, and the spell burned at his fingertips, wanting to be completed. With dread already building, Jisung opened his eyes and found a much smaller body in front of him than had been there before.The boy looked about five years old with long dark hair and a button nose. Jisung’s hand now covered most of the boy’s chest, Minho’s half-open shirt covering the rest of his body and Minho’s shoes and jeans now empty.

“Minho-hyung?” he whispered to the tiny boy with his face screwed up in pain. Despite his discomfort, the boy wasn’t making a sound. That was such a typical Minho action Jisung wanted to cry.

“Did it work?” Minho asked hopefully, opening his eyes. He then immediately frowned. “Why is my voice like that?”

Jisung reached forward to help Minho sit up and button up the shirt that was slipping off his shoulders. He was so little and fragile. Jisung was afraid he would squeeze him too hard and break something.

“Jisungie?” Minho asked, looking up at him in confusion. “Why am I small?”

“I’m sorry, Hyung,” Jisung said. _Should he even be calling him Hyung anymore?_ “I think I took away your.. age? Instead of the curse. What can you remember?” _God please don’t let him have fucked that up too._

“I am Minho. I am an elf. I like cats, and dancing, and Jisungie. I live with Jisungie and Seungminnie and Hyunjinnie and Innie and Lixie and Changbinnie and Channie-hyung.” Minho said proudly. It seemed his memory was fine but perhaps his processing ability had regressed with his body.

“Do you remember what we were doing today, Minho-hyung?” Seungmin asked gently. He was hovering by the end of the bed and seemed to be freaking a lot less than Jisung was. Jisung hoped Seungmin could take the lead now since the mix of magic and losing his hyung was really messing with his emotional stability.

“Making me hear better so I can go on an adventure with Seungminnie,” Minho said with a grin. He was just too cute. Adult Minho was too busy being a tsundere to show joy quite so openly and Jisung liked the assurance that they weren’t really dragging Minho along on the chaos like he sometimes complained.

“Can I test your hearing then?” Seungmin asked. Minho nodded. “ _Dogs are better than cats.”_ Seungmin said in slow, careful fae.

Minho frowned. “You said bugalubglubbubah.”

“I don’t think Jisungie made your hearing better, I’m sorry,” Seungmin said.

“Can you try again, Jisungie?” Minho asked, wrapping his fist around one of Jisung’s fingers and pulling. “If you’re not too tired.”

“I don’t want to do that right now,” Jisung said, picking Minho up and hugging him tightly. He was so small, so light in his arms but he was still here. _What would have happened if Seungmin hadn’t stopped him? Would he have completely erased Minho from existence_? Sometimes his magic terrified him and right now was one of those times.

“We have to make you big again first, ok?” Jisung whispered into Minho’s hair. He still smelled like Minho and Jisung clung tighter to him, letting the smell of Minho’s coconut shampoo calm him.

Minho wriggled out of his arms and crossly tried to push his sleeves up. His shirt slid off one shoulder again and he waved the sleeve in frustration. Jisung knelt down to help him with the slippery material and with a lot of rolling Minho’s hands finally poked out the ends of the sleeves. “Are you making me big again now?”

“Um, not right now,” Jisung said, startled by how similar Minho’s expressions were on this chubby little face. “Soon. I need to make sure I’ll get it right.” _I need to make sure I don’t kill you._

“Ok,” Minho said cheerfully. “I’m going to make toast.” And with that he waddled towards the kitchen.

Jisung exchanged a horrified look with Seungmin and they ran after him.

“Minho you can’t make toast,” Jisung told him, scooping the young boy up by his waist with ease.

“Yes I can,” Minho replied haughtily, wriggling. “I’m very good at making toast.”

Jisung knelt down so Minho wasn’t in danger of falling from his inexperience grip and caged him in with his arms. Minho grunted as he tried to break free but he didn’t have the strength.

“But you can’t reach the stove anymore,” Seungmin pointed out. “And the pan will be too heavy.”

“Well, _you_ can’t make me toast,” Minho said. He had a point there. Both Seungmin and Jisung were terrible at cooking.

“I’ll go get Channie-hyung,” Seungmin offered. “He can make you toast.”

“Channie-hyung is not very good,” Minho said. “His eggs are blurgh.” Jisung had to agree.

“Ok, _I’ll_ make the egg part and Channie-hyung can make the rest, ok?” Seungmin offered.

“Fine,” Minho allowed. “My toast is better though.”

Seungmin left with a wide-eyed panic look to Jisung and then Jisung was alone with tiny Minho. Tiny Minho had escaped and was trying and failing to get up onto one of the bar chairs.

“Do you want help?” Jisung asked, already hovering behind him.

“ _No,”_ Minho replied. “I can get on a chair.”

“It’s quite a tall chair though,” Jisung pointed out. He had to hold the chair upright as Minho hauled himself up it. “And you’re quite small.”

“Who’s fault is that?” Minho said with a grunt as he finally got his chest onto the seat. His feet still dangled as he panted for breath. Jisung gave him a boost.

“Mine,” Jisung admitted. “But don’t talk back to me when I’m helping you.”

Minho finally plopped down on the seat. “I’m older than you,” he said. “You have to call me Hyung.”

“You’re like five, Minho,” Jisung pointed out. “That makes me twelve years older so I’m definitely your hyung now.”

“ _No,”_ Minho drawled. “I have been alive for a hundred and… For a lot of years more than you so I’m Hyung.”

“But now you’re five.” Jisung was going to win this argument.

“I _look_ five,” Minho said crossly. “But I am older. _You’re_ not an adult.”

“I’m nearly an adult,” Jisung scoffed. “I’m more of an adult than you.”

“I see it’s going well, Sungie,” Chan mocked him, appearing in the doorway.

“It’s going amazingly, Hyung,” Jisung said with a sarcastic smile. “I love causing major body alterations to my loved ones. Really spices up my week.”

“At least he’s not a chicken,” Chan offered. He then came into the room and scooped Minho up to rest him on his hip. “Someone told me you wanted toast.”

“I do want toast,” Minho said. “Put me down.”

“No.” Chan booped him on the nose. “You’re cute,” Chan grinned and started getting out the pan and ingredients with one hand.

“I’m a hundred years old!” Minho roared, arching his back to get free.

“One hundred and eighty seven,” Chan corrected him, not bothered in the slightest by the writhing child in his arms. He lined up the ingredients by the chopping board. “But I’m not letting you wander about while I’ve got knives and fire and that stool is too high for you. Either you go sit at the dinner table or you go with Sungie. What will it be?”

Minho made one last attempt to get free but Chan was a vampire and knew how to hold a child down. Minho gave up, panting. “I want Jisungie,” he admitted grumpily.

“Good choice,” Chan said, handing him over. Jisung didn’t really know how to hold a child properly but he was sure this wasn’t it. Minho was _heavy_ and was sliding from his grasp. “Put him on your hip, Sung,” Chan instructed.

_Where?_ Jisung had hips but they certainly didn’t stick out enough for somebody to sit on. He hoisted Minho up a bit further and leant back so at least some of Minho’s weight wasn’t on his arms. Minho locked his arms around Jisung’s neck to stop himself falling.

“You’re rubbish at this,” he told Jisung.

“I’m _trying,_ ” Jisung wailed. “I didn’t have little cousins, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Clearly.” Minho let go and slid to the ground. “Crouch down. I want to go on your shoulders.”

“Not in the kitchen!” Chan called, kicking Minho lightly out of the kitchen with a foot under his butt.

Jisung lifted Minho up onto the table so the boy could climb onto his shoulders like he wanted to. Minho clung to his hair and giggled to himself as he directed Jisung with little tugs. Chan glanced up at them as Jisung game back to stand at his side and smiled softly.

“Are you going to make sure Jisungie and Seungminnie behave for me then, Minnie?”

“Yes!” Minho crowed, tugging on Jisung’s hair.

Jisung groaned. Tiny Minho was proving in a short period of time to be significantly more taxing than adult Minho and he was going to need back up to get through this.

“Min, ow,” he said. Risking taking one hand off of Minho’s ankles to untangle his hands from his hair. Minho only put his hands over (in) Jisung’s mouth to muffle his complaints.

“Fixed him, Channie-hyung!” Minho said proudly. “Look, Channie-hyung. Fixed him!”

“An excellent job, Minho-sshi,” Chan nodded seriously. “What do you want on your toast?”

“Cheeeese!,” Minho said. “And ham and egg. But not your egg. Seungminnie’s egg.”

“Is my egg not good enough?” Chan grumbled, heating up the pan.

“No!” Minho giggled and then tugged on Jisung’s hair _again._ “Turn around Sungie, we gotta find Seungminnie!”

“Watch your head on the doorframes, Min!” Chan called after them.

**_Gay panic, The Sequel:_ **

“I think you’re very good at dancing,” Jisung told him. “ _Way_ better than Jinnie.” He crouched and let Minho wrap his skinny arms around his neck before he stood up again. With his hands clasped under Minho’s butt he could hold him up ok and their eyes were nearly level.

“That’s because you don’t know how to dance,” Minho said. _Ouch. “_ When are you going to make me big?”

“Minho..” Jisung stared into his big brown eyes. Why did Minho have to trust him _so much?_ He’d only let him down. “I don’t know how to make you big again. And- and I’m scared I’ll hurt you if I try. Do you mind being small for a little bit longer until I work it out?”

Minho stared at him for what felt like forever before leaning forward and kissing Jisung on the lips. It was sloppy and not at all pleasant. “Ok, Sungie,” he said seriously. “I will be small for you.”

Jisung’s heart raced and he caught Chan smirking at him over Minho’s shoulder.

“Watch you don’t blow out the lights, _Sungie_ ” Chan told him sassily with no regard for the fact that Jisung, his favourite child, was drowning in emotions right in front of him.

Jisung gave a strangled noise in response. The lights seriously in peril right now but so was the cash register and Chan should be at least a little more concerned about that. Minho must have sensed his panic somehow because he leant forward and put his head on Jisung's shoulder.

“Don’t explode things, Sungie,” Minho whispered into his neck. “You can make my blood go.”

That was what Jisung normally did when his emotions got out of control. Before he unlocked his core he would punch Hyunjin to calm down after he unlocked his core he started freezing Minho’s heart and pumping his blood manually. It wasn’t a very sensible practice but the combination of it being dangerous and requiring a very fine level of control helped to focus his mind better than anything else he’d tried. Minho had been the one to suggest it after Jisung had spent so long observing his curse but now that Minho was a child Jisung felt the danger was too great.

“I’m not going to do that, Min,” Jisung said tensely. “I can get it under control.”

Truthfully, the thought of touching Minho with his magic again just made him feel sick. _How many more times would Minho let him hurt him before there wasn’t a Minho left for a next time?_

“Channie-hyung, can you take him?” Jisung choked out, holding Minho away from him. He ignored Minho’s look of hurt as Chan’s smile dropped and he rushed forward to take Minho.

“Are you good, Sung?” Chan asked loudly from a few steps away, alerting everyone to his embarrassing situation.

“Uhh,” was all Jisung could say in response. His magic was burning under his skin, looking for a release and it was only a matter of time before he wouldn’t be able to contain it.

“9-14?” Hyunjin asked. It was their code for _Jisung’s a little bitch and he’s about to set fire to everything you know and love._ Hyunjin needed to learn to read the room. Obviously this was a 9-14.

Minho squirmed in Chan’s arms. “I can _help,”_ he yelled, pulling uselessly at Chan’s grip.

“Not today, Minnie,” Chan said sadly. “Sung, I don’t know how to help you.”

Now everyone was gathered behind Chan, ready to evacuate. Seungmin had even turned off the cash machine at the wall though that wouldn’t save it if Jisung’s magic got loose. Distance was about the only thing that reduced the chance of getting hit with it which is why everyone knew not to touch him when this happened, no matter how distressed he looked.

Only Minho would risk touching him and dispelling the magic. Minho who was drowning in Jisung’s t-shirt, the hand shaped burns on his ankles just visible under the hem. It was all his fault. Him and his horrible magic.

“Jisung,” Chan called out. His eyes must have lit up because he could feel the cash machine frying. “What do you want me to do?”

“Knock me out,” Jisung said through gritted teeth, holding the magic as close to his body as possible. He wouldn’t be able to restrain it this time.

Thankfully, Chan was a man of his word and a man of action. Jisung didn’t see him move but the fight was suddenly blissfully gone.

**_Cannibalism threats._ **

Minho did not stay still very long and within a few minutes Jisung felt a light touch on his left cheek.

"What ya doing, Min?" he asked without opening his eyes.

"Your cheeks eats my finger," Minho said in awe, pressing harder. Jisung felt the inside of his cheek touch his teeth and opened his jaw slightly to remove the resistance so Minho's finger fell further into his mouth. Minho screamed and then giggled.

"Again!" This time he was pressing both of Jisung's cheeks. Jisung kept his jaw locked a little longer this time until Minho was nearly frustrated before opening it suddenly. He bit back down gently, holding his cheek and Minho's fingers between his teeth.

"No!" Minho cried happily, pulling his hands back. "You can't eat my fingers!"

"Yes I can," Jisung replied, opening his eyes to locate Minho's hand. He put the hand to his lips and mimed eating it. "Mmm, elf hands, my favourite."

"No! Bad witch!" Minho slapped his chest harmlessly. "Channie-hyungie, eat Sungie!"

"Eat Sungie?" Chan asked as if he was considering it, glancing up from his laptop. "Hmm, no he's too fizzy.”

**_Rain and obliviousness:_ **

Hyunjin put his earphones in the second he heard that unmistakable sound of rain in his window. It didn't help because he still knew that it was raining and not hearing it meant he wouldn't hear if it got heavier.

"It's just rain," Hyunjin told himself in the dark. "You're in a big strong house and the rain is going to land on the roof and go into the gutters and drain away. Because you're in a house and houses are warm and dry and safe."

Logic didn't work on irrational fears though.

Jeongin used to climb into his bed when it was raining. He would act extra grumpy to distract Hyunjin and make a show of how little he cared that it was raining. Somehow that always made Hyunjin relax and he could fall asleep if he was holding Jeongin. He wasn't here this time though. He was out in the forest, probably grumpy because the rain was getting him wet. Or maybe he was under cover.

He could still hear the rain. That was a lot of water if he multiplied what he could hear on his window by the plot of the house. He had to stop thinking like this. Maybe he should go to Chan? His new bedroom didn't have any windows and Chan would let him cuddle. He screwed up his eyes and weighed out his fear against the movement he'd have to make. The fear was heavier.

He moved as quietly as possible so as not to wake anybody else up. Out his room, straight across to the dining room, left turn down the stairs, right turn at the bottom, past the therapy room and to Chan's door. Hyunjin opened it carefully. Chan would have heard him if he was awake but it was best not to disturb his work.

Chan was sound asleep, laptop half open on the bed next to him. Hyunjin shut it properly and set it on the desk. Hyunjin couldn't hear the rain in here which should have been a good thing but the absence made him more anxious. He needed comfort but there was no way he was going to wake Chan up now just so he can tell him stupid things like 'the rain isn't going to come inside the house'. Hyunjin already knew that. Leaky roofs were a sign of structural disintegrity and Changbin would never allow that in their house. With one last glance at Chan's relaxed sleeping face, Hyunjin turned and left to trudge back up the stairs. He threw himself back into bed and muffled the urge to scream. He was just going to be awake until the rain stopped then.

Hyunjin's door creaked every so slightly as it opened.

"Hyunjinnie?" Seungmin asked softly. "Would you like me to sleep in here?"

"I'm ok," Hyunjin said. He could handle it.

"You're not," Seungmin replied, stepping into the room properly but staying by the door. "Why didn't you stay with Hyung?" He must have woken up when Hyunjin went downstairs. Whoops.

"He was already asleep," Hyunjin said. "I didn't want to wake him up over nothing."

"It's not nothing," Seungmin said firmly. "It's a trauma response and we all want to help you with it any way we can. What does Innie normally do?" he asked, serious about not leaving.

"I can handle it, Seungmin," Hyunjin said, ignoring the voice that told him he was being rude. "You don't have to help because you feel sorry for me."

"Ok," Seungmin said and there was such determination in that single word that Hyunjin sat up to see him properly. Seungmin was barely more than a silhouette in the faint light from the streetlight that shone through Hyunjin’s thin blinds but Hyunjin could see that light turn to fire in his eyes.

“I’m not doing this out of pity.” Seungmin said. “I’m doing this because the fae are selfish and I am the most devious fae this side of the skin. I’m using your moment of weakness to take whatever I want from my crush.”

 _Oh. They were talking about this now? Now?_ Hyunjin couldn’t focus on that. It was too much.

“You’re not selfish, Minnie,” he said instead.

“I _am,”_ Seungmin replied. “All fae are selfish.”

“You give me your answers to the maths homework,” Hyunjin pointed out.

“Ulterior motives,” Seungmin said haughtily. “I like it when you smile at me.” Hyunjin ignored the way his heart flipped at that.

“You give up your seat on the bus for old people,” Hyunjin tried.

“If they fall over the bus will be late.”

“That time you ran after a lady when she dropped her credit card.”

“The shop had cameras. I didn’t want to be a suspect for theft when she reported it.”

Hyunjin was never going to win against Seungmin like this. Seungmin might not be selfish but he could certainly argue. It was time to play dirty.

“You stopped bothering Innie.”

Suengmin froze. “So did you.”

“I asked first.”

“It wasn’t a question,” Seungmin was stalling.

“ _Seungminnie.”_ Hyunjin had to know now he’d brought it up.

“We didn’t want you to feel awkward,” Seungmin sighed.

“Too late,” Hyunjin muttered. He hadn’t thought that their friendship could ever end so suddenly but it had and not a single interaction felt natural anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Seungmin whispered, talking to the floor. “I’d take it all back if I could. I was so scared I’d lose my friends if you both didn’t like me back. In reality, it was worse than that. You don’t like me back and I lost you and Innie _does_ like me back and I lost him too.”

“You don’t need to lose Innie,” Hyunjin said. “You guys should date.” The words were bitter in his mouth. He didn't want to be the one left behind.

Seungmin crossed the room to sit on Jeongin’s bed and picked up a stuffed toy from the end of the bed, poking out its eyes. “Doesn’t work,” Seungmin said. “We’re both missing you.”

“I can’t-” Hyunjin didn’t know what to say. ‘ _I can’t love you?’_ That wasn’t right. He did love them. So much that it hurt to sit all the way across the room from Seungmin instead of having him in his arms. _‘I can’t make you happy?’_ Maybe that was it. If he kissed them, maybe it would make them happy. He’d thought about kissing them before. Not in a serious way, just like when they used to cuddle and Jeongin’s mouth was right there. Or when he got really excited and hugging Seungmin didn’t seem like it was enough to release all his emotions. Is that what they wanted? To kiss him at times like that?

“Minnie, since you came here to be selfish- what do you want?” he asked bravely. If Seungmin wanted to kiss him, maybe he'd let him.

“I wanted to distract you from the rain.” Seungmin smiled. “It’s stopped now, you can go to sleep.” Hyunjin hadn’t thought about the rain since Seungmin stepped into the room but Seungmin was right- it had stopped. “I’ll go now,” Seungmin said, setting the toy bear back down carefully.

“No!-” Hyunjin cut himself off as Seungmin stood up. “Sleep in Innie’s bed?” Hyunjin said, hearing the pleading whining in his own voice but refusing to be embarrassed about it. “In case the rain starts again.”

Seungmin studied him in the dark but pulled back Jeongin’s duvet and lay down. He breathed in deeply as his head hit the pillow and pulled the duvet tightly around himself. It must smell like Jeongin. Hyunjin hadn’t been weak enough yet to lie down and check. He didn’t deserve a fake hug from Jeongin when he wasn’t brave enough to ask for one when Jeongin was here.

“What does Innie normally do?” Seungmin asked again. “When it rains at night.”

Hyunjin pulled his own duvet up to his chin. “He comes and sleeps in my bed,” Hyunjin admitted. “Lets me be the little spoon.”

“Neither of you are spoons and you are taller than him,” Seungmin said.

“It’s a saying, Seungminnie,” Hyunjin said exasperatedly. Seungmin definitely knew what it meant.

“You are spaghetti,” Seungmin continued and Hyunjin couldn’t help but giggle. “Innie is.. kimchi.”

“You’re just saying that because you like kimchi,” Hyunjin argued.

“ _Everyone_ likes kimchi, Jinnie,” Seungmin said. “That’s the point.” It was a good comparison when Hyunjin thought about it that way. Sour and spicy but impossible to go a day without. That was Jeongin. Especially now he was a moody teenager.

“Do you think he’s ok?” Hyunjin asked quietly.

“Don’t think about it, Jinnie,” Seungmin said firmly.

“Too late,” Hyunjin squeaked, the possibilities painting themselves across his mind. “What if they get ambushed?. What if Hyung is tired after a shift and can’t defend them? What if-”

 _“For fucks sake.”_ Seungmin leapt out of bed and jumped on top of Hyunjin, smothering him. “The words ‘what if’ are banned. Innie is completely fine. He’s probably having the time of his life running about the forest destroying things.”

Seungmin then seemed to suddenly realise what position he was in and scrambled to the other end of the bed.

“What happened to taking what you wanted?” Hyunjin asked him, feeling bold now most of the weird tension between them was broken. Seungmin’s eyes flicked down to Hyunjin’s lips before he jerked and looked pointedly across the room.

“I don’t want anything,” Seungmin said.

“Liar.”

“I don’t!”

“Seungminnie.” Hyunjin waited until Seungmin looked back at him and then licked his lip seductively. Seungmin kicked him. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Don’t mess with me like that, Hyunjin,” Seungmin said bitterly, going back to Jeongin’s bed and facing the wall.

“I wasn’t messing with you,” Hyunjin blurted out. Seungmin kept facing the wall. “I do kind of want to kiss you. Sometimes. But not all the time! I don’t know why..” he trailed off.

“Is this a problem specific to me or is it with everyone?” Seungmin asked the wall loftily. Hyunjin didn’t have an answer. He didn’t _keep track_ of this kind of thing.

“You,” he ran through his happy memories, picking out the times he’d held back from inching just a little closer. “Innie too. Maybe Binnie-hyung?”

“ _Changbin-hyung?_ ” Seungmin whipped back around. “You like _Changbin-hyung?”_

 _“No!_ I don’t like anybody!” Hyunjin corrected venomously. This was getting way out of hand. “I just want to kiss some people sometimes.”

“That’s what liking people is, dumbass,” Seungmin said exasperatedly. _It was?_

“But in dramas-” Hyunjin protested. Seungmin shut him up the same way he had before, crossing the room in a single bound.

“Dramas are _dramatic,_ Hyunjin,” Seungmin said sitting on his stomach, one hand on Hyunjin’s mouth and the other pressing his shoulder into the bed. “Real life isn’t like that. In real life sometimes your best friend hugs you and you realise it's warm in a way nobody else can match. Or they pout and you kind of want to share saliva with them and you can’t find a reason why. That’s what romantic love is like.”

Hyunjin pulled Seungmin’s hand off his mouth and interlaced their fingers. Seungmin’s hand was warm and there was a damp patch in the middle of his palm where he had been touching Hyunjin’s lips.

“But what if it's only sometimes?” Hyunjin whispered. Staring up at Seungmin in the near-dark he thought that ‘sometimes’ was about to get a whole lot more common.

“You mean sometimes you’d rather talk to me or watch tv together or do homework?” They’d given up all pretense that this wasn't about them now.

“I never want to do homework,” Hyunjin butted in.

“I know,” Seungmin said. “I have to force you.”

“I deliberately don’t do it on time so that you’ll pay attention to me,” Hyunjin admitted. “You get all serious and focused and I- _oh._ I have a crush on you,” he said in a small voice, telling Seungmin in the exact same second he told himself.

“Congratulations,” Seungmin smiled shyly down at him. “You’re officially the last person to notice.”

“Kiss me?” Hyunjin asked, tugging Seungmin down by his hand. His other hand steadied Seungmin’s waist as he leaned forward. Their noses touched first.

“Have you done this before?” Seungmin asked. Hyunjin shook his head the smallest amount, too busy staring up at the boy that was everything he could see. “You’re a fast learner,” Seungmin said, sneaking the smallest peck on Hyunjin’s lips. “Just follow my lead.”

Hyunjin wasn’t following _anything._ He was barely registering everything that Seungmin was doing let alone processing it. Any response he did make was purely on instinct.

“Are you alright there?” Seungmin asked, pulling away and sitting up. His hands rested on Hyunjin’s chest and it was making his heart go wild. Or maybe his heart had already gone wild, it was hard to tell.

“Does everyone’s mouth taste that good?” Hyunjin slurred. His lips felt like they were vibrating.

“Statistically, no,” Seungmin replied. “Also, according to humans, other humans taste better if they have opposing immune systems. But I’m not human so I don’t know if that applies here. If it did, it would stand to reason that we are better matched as our upbringing and ancestry are entirely different.”

“I think you’re just good at kissing,” Hyunjin said, still in awe. “Really good at kissing. Have you kissed a lot of people?”

“Not a lot,” Seungmin said, running a finger down Hyunjin’s sternum. “Felix has kissed more.”

“Have you kissed _Felix?”_ Hyunjin asked, gripping Seungmin’s hips. Seungmin looked away. “You have! Was he better than me?”

“Felix had more skill,” Seungmin started and Hyunjin tried to turn away in a huff but Seungmin was sitting on his hips. “Hey, Jinnie. Jinnie, look at me, you idiot.” Seungmin cupped his face and kissed him softly. Hyunjin melted into the mattress.“I kissed Felix because we were bored and wanted to prove who was better. I kissed you because I’ve wanted to for over a year and finally you feel the same. Even if you mostly lay there and did nothing, I still preferred kissing you.”

“I can do better,” Hyunjin vowed. He didn’t want to be the lazy partner that took the other person for granted. Seungmin deserved more, so much more, for everything Hyunjin had put him through in the last few weeks.

“Tomorrow,” Seungmin said. “It’s 3am. I just want to sleep now.”

“Sleep with me?” Hyunjin asked. He didn’t want to let Seungmin go. Ever.

“Of course, spaghetti boy.” Seungmin got under the duvet, making Hyunjin realise suddenly that he’d been out the blankets this whole time. Hyunjin pulled him closer, getting Seungmin to throw a leg over his own. He ran a hand up and down Seungmin’s arm and tried to get rid of the goosebumps.

“Are you cozy?” he asked. Seungmin nuzzled into his chest and hummed happily.

“Very cozy,” he answered sleepily. “Don’t constrict me with your spaghetti legs.”

“No promises.” Hyunjin pressed a kiss to the crown of Seungmin's head and tried to relax as he breathed out. He had one friend back in his arms and now he just had to pray Jeongin would get home safely so he could make that two.

**_Tiny Minho being a menace:_ **

“Sorry not everyone can change their hair colour as fast as your boyfriend.”

“Who?” Seungmin asked too quickly.

“Innie,” Jisung said slowly, suspicious of Seungmin’s behaviour. There was something off about him today. Jisung had put it down to sleepiness earlier but Seungmin was definitely awake now.

“We’re not dating,” Seungmin said.

“Oh? You’re just friends that kiss sometimes?” Jisung asked.

“Yeah. I’ve kissed Innie _twice_ and there wasn’t even tongue.” That was almost a solid argument. It _had_ been pretty innocent the one time Jisung accidently saw them kiss in the kitchen. More of a sudden attack with Seungmin’s mouth during a tickle fight than an actual kiss.

“Why can’t we be friends that kiss sometimes?” Jisung asked in mock offence. “I thought we were close?”

Seungmin shrugged. “You seem like a messy kisser. Not my style.”

“I like messy,” Minho piped up from Jisung’s lap.

“Shut up,” Seungmin told him dismissively. “You’re five.”

“I’m-

“One hundred and a lot,” Seungmin and Jisung droned monotonously in time with Minho’s outburst.

“Don’t talk about being promiscuous when you look like that, Hyung,” Seungmin told Minho. “It’s really weird.”

“I’ve had sex _many times,”_ Minho said proudly in his high pitched child’s voice. Seungmin recoiled.

“Sungie, wipe my brain,” Seungmin requested, lifting Jisung’s hand to press it to his forehead. Jisung pulled it back.

“No. If I have to remember that, so do you.”

**_BM and the gang:_ **

“Hey, is Chris around?” a tall, tanned young man asked as he entered the shop. His accent was strange as if it hadn’t quite decided where it was going to be from. Behind him, another man and two women entered and dispersed around the shop. One girl made an immediate bee-line for the hooped earring display Hyunjin had set up the week before. He’d be happy to hear that- he was trialling new product positions.

“Chris?” Jisung echoed, standing in case he had to be helpful.

“Yeah, I heard he ran the chicken magic shop by the river now. This is it, right?” The man took half a step back out the door to go peer up at their sign.

Jisung laughed and waved him back inside. “Yeah, this is probably it. We’re lucky you didn’t try next door- they’re non-mystics and they’ve probably had enough memory wipes for a lifetime already. Is Chris by any chance a vampire: curly hair, hates blood?”

“That’s him!” The guy smiled widely. “I’m glad he’s still around.”

“He goes by Chan now,” Jisung informed him. “I can go get him. What name do you want me to give him, Sir?”

“Tell him it’s Big Matthew.”

“Big Mathew,” Jisung repeated the strange English. “Ok. Min, can you stay here a minute while I get Channie-hyung?” Jisung addressed Minho who was going through a calm period as he watched videos on his phone. He hadn’t risked disturbing him until now since he could get so much more work done but with Seungmin on the phone with a customer in the back room he couldn’t risk Minho suddenly looking up and panicking in a room full of strangers.

“I can watch him,” Matthew offered.

“I don’t need watching,” Minho said icily, looking up from his phone. “I’m a hundred and a lot.” Matthew turned to Jisung in confusion.

“He’s 187 years old,” Jisung said. “I de-aged him yesterday. Accidently.”

“Right,” Matthew said, looking at Jisung with new appreciation. “You must be a witch then.”

“Unfortunately.” Jisung sighed. Magic felt like more of a curse than a blessing right now. He couldn’t even dye his hair the colour he wanted. “I’ll go get Channie-hyung.”

“Big Matthew is here?” Jisung announced hesitantly when he found Chan hanging out laundry.

“Big -?” Chan tilted his head in confusion, before gasping. “BM!!” He was gone in the blink of an eye. Jisung followed him downstairs at a more sedate pace to see Chan and the man hugging like old friends. Maybe they were.

“Where have you been?” Chan asked excitedly, looking very short next to Matthew/BM.

“South America,” Matthew/BM replied. “That’s where it’s at, man. Great food, great music, great _beaches.”_ He gave Chan finger guns at that. Maybe he was an _old_ old friend if he knew about Chan’s affinity to beaches from Australia. “Nice place you got here though. When d’you finally leave the council?”

“Ah, just a couple years back,” Chan replied. “When I got this one.” He reached out an arm and pulled Jisung into his side.

“I’m not your child,” Jisung told him.

“Yes you are,” Chan said, nearly strangling him with love.

“Is the little one yours too then?” Matthew/BM asked, nodding in Minho’s direction.

“Yeah, the latest addition,” Chan said. “He’s going through some stuff,” he added vaguely. “Technically, he’s the eldest.”

“Uh huh,” Matthew/BM said. “Of how many?” _Oh, this guy definitely knew Chan. He was giving him the ‘stop adopting people’ look._

“Seven?”

[...]

The shorter woman seemed to be engrossed in the earring cabinet and the other man had gone over to look as well so Jisung just returned to the table. There was no point in him attempting to be helpful there.

“Min, can you go find Binnie for me, please?” Jisung asked nicely. It would be better if the customers spoke to Changbin if they made a purchase, especially if their friend knew Chan. Jisung would definitely give them the wrong info.

“I’m busy,” Minho said.

“You're watching cat videos.” Jisung glanced at the screen. “You’re watching _the same_ cat video on repeat.”

“Busy.”

“Min.”

“Sungie.”

“Minho.”

“Jisung.”

“You should be more polite to your hyung,” the taller woman told Minho, wandering over from perusing the shelves. She had an elegance about her, from the way her hair was neatly tied back at the nape of her neck to the cut of her high-waisted trousers, everything subtly colour-coordinated. Jisung would bet she was older than she looked- no person he knew in their twenties was as well put-together as that. He himself was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt that drowned his frame and Chan, despite his years, had yet to discover colours.

“Minho is older,” Jisung told her grudgingly before Minho could start his rant. “I accidently de-aged him yesterday.”

“Accidently?” the woman asked in amazement, pulling the strap of her designer bag further onto her shoulder. “How?”

“If I knew that, ma’am, I’d age him back.”

“I’m Somin,” the woman said. “I might be your Noona.”

“You are, Noona,” Jisung said confidently. “I was born 2000.”

“And you managed a de-aging spell?” Somin asked.

“By accident!”

“That’s even more impressive,” she said. “People would pay an awful lot for that skill.”

“It’s not a good skill,” Jisung said hurriedly. “I nearly killed Minho-hyung. He was 187 and he got to 5 before Seungmin managed to stop me.”

“What was it you were trying to do again?” Somin asked lightly.

“Break the First Curse,” Jisung mumbled.

“Sorry, I thought you just said ‘break the First Curse,’” Somin laughed.

Jisung mumbled in response and looked at the floor. Yeah, he knew _now_ that he wasn’t good enough a witch to manage that. He didn’t need strangers rubbing it in.

“You’re _seventeen_ ,” Somin stared at him like he was some sort of zoo exhibition when she realised he was serious. “How are you so powerful?”

“He’s an emotional magic witch,” Minho said, still watching his phone. “And a teenager. It’s a pretty powerful combination. He worked out how to skinsing the day after he unlocked his core.”

“Was that last week?” Somin joked.

“Two months ago,” Jisung admitted.

“Dios mio,” she muttered. “Matthew! Or BM. _Jinseok?_ What am I supposed to be calling you now?” Jisung also wanted to know that answer.

“Whatever you want, Minnie,” Matthew/BM/Jinseok?? replied with a grin as he and Chan joined their conversation.

“Seriously,” Somin said. “Are you going with a Korean name this time?”

“I like BM,” BM said. “Sounds cool, right Chris?” He was a fool trusting Chan’s opinion.

“This time, maybe,” Chan said, scooping up Minho against his will. “But a hundred years ago it was just strange."

“Ok, _BM_ ,” Somin said exasperatedly. “Jisung here tried to break the First Curse.”

“Really?” BM asked. “That’s impossible, man. Minnie’s friend has been attempting that for hundreds of years.”

“Yeah,” Somin said impatiently. “That’s not the point. It’s what he _did_ manage to do instead _._ He de-aged his friend. _By accident._ Do you have any idea how impossible _that_ is?” Somin said. “Witches have been trying that way longer than The Curse has been around.”

Jisung was not enjoying being talked about like he wasn’t there. He was also not enjoying how hopeless his hunt for a cure was sounded. Surely, in the world population of witches _someone_ had managed de-aging before. Jisung wasn’t even using a spell when he did it!

“Have you told the council about him?” BM asked Chan seriously. _What was there to tell? Yeah, his magic was unstable but all young witches were unpredictable._

“No, and they’re not finding out,” Chan replied, just as serious. “Don’t even tell your friends about this, ok. I don’t want rumours getting back.”

“Yeah, of course, man,” BM said as Somin nodded earnestly. “Family secret.”

“Why am I a secret, Channie-hyung?” Jisung asked warily.

“It’s nothing, Sungie,” Chan said, pulling him into a side-hug and patting his hair. Minho reached out from Chan's other arm and poked at the frown between Jisung's eyebrows. “Just, like Somin-noona said, nobody has successfully de-aged someone before so the council would likely want to recruit you." Chan said casually as if Jisung didn't know exactly what 'recruitment' meant. "It’s best we don’t encourage a visit.”

“Would they take me away if I’m unstable?” Jisung asked. It had never been a concern before, no matter how many explosions he made. Chan still had contacts on the inside and as long as Chan promised to clean up after him Jisung had been free to attempt whatever he wanted.

“No, I wouldn’t let them do that,” Chan assured him. He was good at lying. Somin wasn’t and her face said it all. If they had a reason to want him, he’d be taken.

“Somin-noona, has anybody successfully aged someone?” he asked instead of thinking about that, since she seemed to be an expert on the subject.

“Lots of times,” she told him. _Finally, some fucking good news._ “But all of them were accidents.” _Or… not._ “Witches tend not to try and age people deliberately but I can help you look for a common feature of the spells if you’d like? Maybe we can find out what it is that causes it.”

Jisung nodded as she spoke. “Yes please, Noona. Thank you so much.”

“No problem.” She smiled. “I could learn a lot from a kid like you.”

“You’re a witch?” Jisung asked. He didn’t know why it didn’t occur to him before.

“Yeah, directional magic. Nowhere near as powerful as yours but I think I’ve a little more practice.”

“Like North and South?” Jisung asked.

“Anything with direction,” Somin explained. “It can be North-South, left-right, towards happiness, under the radar. My magic is stronger with odd spells when I get creative like that.”

“I just tend to make things explode,” Jisung said. “I can give you a demonstration?”

“How about one day without explosions?” Chan suggested. “We’re running out lightbulbs.”

“Fine,” Jisung said grudgingly. “I guess I can bring forward a happy memory or something.”

“You can do that?” BM asked in interest.

“Yeah.” Jisung reached up a hand to his forehead. “Uh, can you crouch down?”

BM laughed and bent his knees. “Do you look through the memories?” He didn’t seem opposed to that though.

“No, it’s the emotion I search for.” BM had a lot of happy memories, Jisung was pleased to find. He seemed like a positive man, with happiness tingeing a lot of the memories he had even if it wasn’t the strong emotion attached to them. Jisung picked one of the brightest ones and tugged it forward before retreating so he wouldn’t see it play.

A smile lit up BM’s face. “That’s a good one,” he said wistfully. Somin looked to him curiously but BM shook his head. Whatever memory it was, he wasn’t going to share it here.

“Me next! Me next!” Minho called, wriggling in Chan’s grip to get to Jisung. Jisung took him before he could fall and Minho knocked their heads together. It wasn’t how Jisung normally did it but this would work just as well.

He closed his eyes and searched Minho’s memories. There were a lot more negative memories as Jisung sifted through them. Not many truly bad ones but loneliness muted anything positive. Jisung went back to the recent memories. The point Minho joined their family was a sudden change that Jisung rarely saw. The loneliness receded and everything became a mess of happiness, fear, confusion and other emotions Jisung couldn’t pin. More recent memories were less likely to be ruled by a single emotion as they were better remembered in general and had more logic paths back to them. For Minho, happiness and confusion seemed to be closely linked though without looking at the memories Jisung wouldn’t find the cause. He picked one where happiness overruled and gave it the slightest tap before leaning back so their heads weren’t touching.

“Sungie,” Minho said happily, pulling Jisung’s head back toward him. Jisung resisted. Tiny Minho might consent but Jisung felt it wasn’t fair to see his adult memories without adult Minho’s permission.

“I can’t look, Min,” he said, trying to pull back without dropping Minho.

“It’s Sungie!” Minho protested and headbutted his chest. That did it and Jisung got a flash of himself acting like a complete idiot in the middle of a family dinner before he clamped his magic to stop it playing.

Chan grinned wolfishly. “Well, isn’t that adorable.”

Jisung glared at him. “I will find your most embarrassing memory and play it on repeat,” he threatened.

Chan took a step back. “I don’t have any embarrassing memories. I forget them all like a cool person.”

“That explains why you can’t remember how many children you have,” Jisung retorted and BM burst out laughing.

“Self-burn. Those are rare,” the other girl said. She and the man had joined them at some point while Jisung was wrestling with Minho.

“It is my lifelong goal to embarrass Channie-hyung,” Jisung told her. “If anything, I’ve been validated.”

“And you thought I was a bad maknae,” the girl told BM.

“I never said that,” BM protested. “You are a joy to be around, Jiwoo.”

“Great,” Jiwoo smiled widely. “Buy these for me?” She held out her hand with two pairs of hoop earrings.

BM rolled his eyes but took them. “Fine. Anybody else wants something?” The other two dashed off. “I hope I can pay with card,” BM told Chan.

“Uhh, probably not,” Chan admitted. “Sung fried the machine yesterday. Take them as gifts to an old friend.”

“Chris, that’s too much,” BM said. “Those earrings probably cost about 100,000 won on their own.”

Chan grimaced at that, “I actually have no idea.”

“You should get Binnie-hyung,” Jisung told him.

“I should get Binnie,” Chan agreed. “I’ll be right back.” He dashed off up the stairs.

“Binnie-hyung made them,” Jisung informed them. “He’s a dwarf.”

Jiwoo’s mouth fell open in an ‘O’. “That’ll be expensive. I’ll put one back.”

BM closed his hand around them. “Nope. If you like them you should get them. I know you’ll wear them.”

“Thank you, Oppa,” she said quietly.

“It’s probably not as much as you think,” Jisung told them. “Everyone says we sell things really cheap.”

Chan came back downstairs with Changbin who was smiling proudly. BM held out the earrings wordlessly to him and Changbin took them, holding them up to the light to check the quality of his work. Jisung didn’t know why he did it. Everything he made was carefully crafted to the smallest detail.

“Are these for you, Noona?” Changbin asked Jiwoo. She nodded. “These bigger hoops have been lying around for ages. I was going to rework them next week in the hope someone would buy them.”

“I like them like that,” Jiwoo said quickly. “The flattened part at the bottom is really unique.”

“Thanks,” Changbin ducked his head to hide his smile as he checked the clasps. “Maybe I’ll make more like that.” He handed them back to BM and turned to Chan. “Friends Discount.”

Chan grinned broadly. “Great!”

“How much?” BM asked when the other two had returned with something that interested them and it was all gathered on the table.

“Free,” Chan said. “Friends Discount.”

“Your Friends Discount is ‘free’?” Somin asked doubtfully.

“We’re terrible at business,” Chan said proudly.

“In that case, I’m paying by helping Jisung with his de-ageing spell.” Somin said, catching Jisung’s eye. Jisung nodded and unlocked his phone for her to type in her number. He’d take any and all help he could get.

“Yeah, we owe you big time, Chris,” BM said as Changbin bagged up their purchases. “If you don’t call in a favour I’m going to come back with cash and hide it in your top shelves.”

“Wouldn’t work,” Chan said. “We excel at avoiding payment.” Height was a family weakness though. If there was one way to outmaneuver them it would involve high shelves.

**_The throuple thrives:_ **

Innie, what’s wrong?” he frowned up at him with his stupid puppy eyes. Jeongin shook his hand free

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Is it because I kissed Hyunjinnie first?” Seungmin asked. First? What the hell did he mean? Who else was he planning on kissing and why would Jeongin care?

“It was only yesterday,” Hyunjin added, sitting up. “Today really, since it was at like 2am this morning.” Jeongin didn’t want to hear about it.

“I’m going out,” he said dismissively but Hyunjin stood up in his way. “Hyung-”

“Did something happen while you were away?” Hyunjin asked, matching Jeongin’s side-step so he was still between him and the door. That combined with the question was the final straw.

“Obviously,” Jeongin spat out, gesturing between them. “I’m happy for you and all but can I please go be rejected somewhere else?”

“Rejected?” Hyunjin echoed, tilting his head in confusion. Jeongin was already preparing to shift to get out of there when Seungmin gasped behind him.

“Terra. Innie no, I wasn’t rejecting you. Never.” He spun Jeongin around to face him. “Both, remember?” Seungmin said, cupping Jeongin’s face in his hands and staring deep into his eyes. It was terrifying. Tenderness was not something Jeongin associated with Seungmin. “I can date both of you, can’t I?” Seungmin asked. He looked so scared that all of Jeongin’s irritation evaporated.

“I don’t have a problem with you dating Hyunjin,” he admitted reluctantly, avoiding his gaze. “But we aren’t dating.”

Seungmin frowned. “We aren’t?”

Jeongin wasn’t even sure they would be considered friends anymore, not that he didn’t want to be. Friends just tended to spend time together and they had been about as far apart as two people who lived together could be. Until now. Now Seungmin was really close and they were even talking about feelings. And well, if they were talking about feelings they were already most of the way there.

“Kiss me now and I’ll consider it,” Jeongin offered an olive branch. Seungmin didn’t hesitate.

It was a sweeter kiss than the previous ones he’d gotten and now Jeongin understood why his mom asked his dad for kisses all the time. It was like an instant health boost, lifting his mood and relaxing his muscles in a matter of seconds. A few more of them and he’d be happily asleep.

“Be my boyfriend?” Seungmin asked as he pulled away. He was still close enough that Jeongin had trouble deciding which part of his face to look at.

“I guess,” Jeongin breathed. He could really do with more kisses like that.

“My turn!” Hyunjin said. Jeongin turned to him expectantly but Hyunjin just quirked a small smile his way before looking to Seungmin. “You’ve not asked me out either, Minnie.”

“Why do I have to be doing the asking?” Seungmin said. “If anything, I think you should have to do it for taking so long to realise you liked me.” He raised his eyebrows at Hyunjin before looking down to Jeongin who was trapped between them. “He also likes you and Changbin-hyung.”

“Changbin-hyung?” Jeongin asked. His voice cracked but that wasn’t important.

“That’s what I said,” Seungmin said smugly.

“Minnie’s kissed Felix!” Hyunjin fired back. And Jeongin thought liking two people was bad.

“My limit is two boyfriends,” Jeongin said. He wasn’t sure if he should be setting his own limit or theirs.

“I want the second slot!” Hyunjin said quickly, actually raising his hand like a schoolkid. His enthusiasm made Jeongin heart soar and his dorkiness made him want to hit him.

“What do you have to offer?” he asked as Seungmin’s arms slid around his waist. He leaned back into Seungmin’s touch and Hyunjin’s eyes widened.

“Wow, I’m gay,” Hyunjin said, quite possibly missing the question entirely. If this was going to happen every time he and Seungmin interacted Jeongin was going to have a lot of fun.

“That was a prerequisite,” Jeongin said cheekily. “I was asking for special skills.”

Hyunjin just stared at them.

“I have no special skills,” he said in a far away voice after a moment.

“Lies,” Seungmin said, letting go of Jeongin to tug Hyunjin to sit back down on his bed with him. “You care a lot about everyone around you. You can whistle better than anybody I know. You’re a great swimmer. You understand Mr Lee’s physics lessons- which is a miracle all on it’s own. You look good no matter what you’re wearing- do I need to go on?”

“Being pretty isn’t a special skill,” Hyunjin protested. “And I’m only good at swimming because I’m amphibious.”

Jeongin hadn’t intended to make Hyunjin question his self-worth with that question. Hyunjin was plenty special for Jeongin just as he was. He sat on Hyunjin’s other side and threaded their fingers together.

He held up their hands. “Oh look, you passed.”

Hyunjin giggled. “Because I have hands?”

“No, because you make my chest feel weird,” Jeongin said grudgingly. He wasn’t about to say the L-word no matter how intense the feeling was.

“Terra.” Seungmin said, leaning around Hyunjin to look at Jeongin in mock concern. “Hyunjinnie, I think Innie might be feeling an emotion.”

“Shut up,” Jeongin grumbled. “Puberty is the worst.”

“Agreed,” Seungmin said. “I thought I was done but Channie-hyung says I’m still growing.”

“At least you guys know you’ll stop growing at some point.” Hyunjin flopped onto his back but kept holding Jeongin’s hand. Jeongin noticed he was holding Seungmin’s too. “The doctor can’t even work out if I get puberty.”

“I’ll still be your boyfriend even if you become a 20 foot kraken,” Jeongin reassured him. It wouldn’t be ideal but Jeongin thought they could make it work. Seungmin would probably need to learn to swim better though.

“Boyfriend?” Hyunjin asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said, unable to stop himself smiling. “You’ve got to share though.”

“Kiss?” Hyunjin asked next, grinning back.

“Neither of you know what you’re doing,” Seungmin warned them.

Jeongin flipped him off as he leant down to kiss Hyunjin. “You can give us feedback later.”

**_Death to blue hair:_ **

“Channie-hyung?” he added hesitantly.

“Mmm?” Chan answered, adjusting Minho’s jumper.

“Can you dye my hair?”

“Emo playlist?” Chan suggested, setting his phone up on the shelf above the sink so it wouldn’t get damaged. Jisung shrugged and Chan hit play. It wasn’t emo but the gentle ballads fitted his mood too so he didn’t complain. Jisung still shot Chan a glare for reading him so well though. Chan smiled and pulled out the bleach.

“Shouldn’t you be sectioning my hair?” Jisung asked as Chan started massaging the bleach into his hair.

“I will for the colour,” Chan replied. “This is a potion, not bleach. Jinnie found it online.”

“And you’re trying it out on me?” Jisung asked, trying to duck out of the way.

“No- _will you sit still, Sungie_.” Chan clamped down on his head. “I’ve used it on Lix and myself. You’re safe.” He swept Jisung’s fringe up into a point. “Haha. Unicorn.”

“Do it properly,” Jisung grumbled.

“This is properly,” Chan said, moving further back on Jisung’s hair and making another spike. “It says on the bottle ‘Activate with your best dinosaur impression.’”

“Rawr,” Jisung said half heartedly.

“That’s your best dinosaur impression?” Chan said, pausing in his next spike creation to look at Jisung with disappointment. “I raised you better than that.”

“Well you’ve not done a very good job at making me a dinosaur,” Jisung groused. “How am I supposed to get into character looking like this?” He couldn’t actually see himself but he could imagine the five soapy peaks lined up along his head.

“Ehhh, this is a work of art,” Chan argued before turning serious. “It actually says ‘rinse out after five minutes’ so we should probably do that now.”

He washed his hands quickly in the sink before taking the showerhead off the wall and turning it on. Chan pointed the spray of water down the drain as it warmed before cupping the back of Jisung’s neck and helping him lean back. There was a familiarity to the action- Chan had done this several times before in failed attempts to dye his hair previously but also there was a faint memory of his mother washing shampoo from his hair this way too. He’d been chest-high in bubbles in a bath then so he must have been very small. The apartment they lived in for most of his childhood hadn’t even had a bath so it might even have been before he left Korea.

Chan’s hand was gentle as it washed out the suds, far gentler than Jisung ever was with his hair. When he washed close to Jisung’s face he even cupped his hand at Jisung’s hairline to stop the water getting in his eyes. He was always protecting Jisung. Even when that same hand was slamming against Jisung’s temple to knock him unconscious Chan was still protecting Jisung, protecting him from himself.

Jisung knew that he relied on Chan. He relied on Chan perhaps more than he wanted to for someone on the cusp of adulthood but in that moment it was nice to be looked after. At some point, probably relatively soon he should move out and learn to stand on his own two feet. He would never learn to be independent otherwise. It was just too easy to call for Chan and have him come running to solve all Jisung’s problems.

Just as he was trying to decide if Changbin and him had the life skills to survive together and whether he could convince Minho to move with him, Chan tapped lightly on the back of his head.

“All done, Sungie,” he said. “I don’t know if it was just because we use a potion this time but it’s not blue at all.”

Jisung sat up and tried to pull his fringe into view. It was _yellow._ “Obviously it wasn’t going to be blue,” Jisung retorted. “It wasn’t blue when you started.”

“I’m so used to seeing you with blue hair,” Chan said, putting the centre part back into Jisung’s wet hair. He took a step back so his back was pressed against the door and admired his work. “My baby is all grown up.”

“I’m the same age as I was this morning,” Jisung said, pursing his lips. “I’ve been growing up this whole time.”

“I know,” Chan said amicably. “Seeing you with light hair just made the change more obvious. Your chubby cheeks are disappearing,” he noted sadly.

“Good,” Jisung said. “It makes me look like a little kid. Are you going to dye my hair or just stand there and pout at me, Hyung?”

“I’m _getting_ to it,” Chan replied and put his dyeing kit down on the toilet seat loudly. “You want to match Lix, right?”

***

“Use the toilet downstairs!” Chan called when there was a knock on the door. He was sitting against the door and Jisung sat on the toilet seat as they waited for the dye to soak into his hair. They could have moved to the living room for some comfier seat for half an hour but Jisung was happy in the security of their tiny bathroom and so they stayed. Conversation never dried up with Chan and they had just been discussing the logistics of cryopreservation. In all honesty, the sum total of Jisung’s knowledge came from a single five minute youtube video so he was quickly running out of arguments.

“I don’t need to pee,” a deep voice said through the door. “Can I still come in?”

Chan nearly ripped the door off of its hinges in his scramble to get it open. Literally. Jisung heard a crack.

“ _Felix?”_ Chan asked even though he was standing facing the boy.

“Um, yeah?” Felix replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Did you not know I was back?”

Chan swept him up into a bone-crushing hug. Considering Felix’s bones were finer than the rest of them and Chan’s current disregard for his own strength, it was a real possibility that it might actually be bone-crushing.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” Chan breathed out. “I missed you.”

“I missed him more!” Jisung called out from behind him. “Stop hogging Lix. He’s _my_ twin.” Felix smiled at Jisung over Chan’s shoulder. His hands were held awkwardly out to the sides as he went limp and waited for Chan to let him go again.

“What colour are you dyeing your hair?” Felix asked and Jisung could kiss him for not asking about all the other shit that was clearly going on.

“Same as you,” Jisung said. “So we can be identical twins.”

“Not because it was the only colour in the house?” Felix teased. Chan had finally let him go and he leaned down to hug Jisung, worming as close as he could for maximum skin contact.

“Watch out!” Chan warned. “You’re going to get Sung’s dye all over you.”

“It’s the same colour,” Felix argued, knocking their heads together. “It’s not going to do anything.”

It did do something because while Jisung’s hair washed to nearly highlighter orange, Felix had been flying around in the sun for weeks and most of his hair had faded to strawberry blonde. By the time they remembered to wash the transferred dye out of Felix’s hair some had taken and he was left with bright patchy streaks on the right side of his head.

“I’ll just have to dye it another colour,” Felix said, not bothered by it. “Do you recommend blue, Sungie?”

“Anything but blue,” Jisung replied emphatically.

**_Surprise fiance:_ **

“Sungie!” Minho called happily from the door, swinging it shut behind him and running for the bed.

“Frogskin,” Jisung cursed before putting on a cheerful smile. “Hey, Min!”

“Sungie, I’m cold,” Minho announced.

“You can’t be cold,” Jisung told him. “You’re wearing a jumper and it’s summertime.”

“I am though,” Minho said, crawling over them and flopping down in quite possibly the worst position he could have found. Hyunjin rolled onto his back and pulled Minho with him so the boy was on his chest. Jisung took the opportunity to sit up.

“You’re not cold,” Hyunjin said, pressing the back of his fingers against Minho’s cheeks. “Did you just want an excuse to join our cuddles?”

“No,” Minho wrinkled his nose and tried to escape Hyunjin’s arms. “I _am_ cold.”

“Magic again?” Hyunjin asked, twisting his head to look at Jisung.

“No, my magic is warm to him,” Jisung explained. “He’s missing it. Min, I’m not giving you magic.”

“Please,” Minho asked with a pout. He’d asked already, straight after dinner, and that was why Jisung was trying to get away in the first place.

“No, Min.” Jisung remained firm. “I’m not putting magic in your blood. You’re better without it.”

“It didn’t hurt,” Minho protested.

“You.” Jisung added. “It didn’t hurt you. It hurt me quite a lot.”

“Just a little bit,” Minho bargained.

“Are you addicted to magic, Min?” Hyunjin asked, tickling him. “Do we have to stage an intervention?”

“He might be,” Jisung realised quietly. “Min, are you hurting? Does it hurt anywhere?”

“Just cold,” Minho said. “Cold everywhere.” He reached out to Jisung and Jisung let him come and sit in his lap.

“Better?” he asked. Maybe he could trick Minho into thinking he was doing magic.

“You’re not doing it,” Minho protested, holding Jisung’s hand tightly and shaking it. So much for that idea.

“Sungie doesn’t have much magic right now, Min,” Hyunjin said, trying to catch Jisung’s eye for a clue as to what to do. Jisung had no idea either. “He needs to keep it for himself or he’ll get ill again.”

Minho whined impatiently. “When are you going to have enough again, Sungie?” he asked, slapping Jisung’s hands together.

“Dunno,” Jisung replied. He was more aware of his magic now but it was like water at the bottom of a well. He could access it yes, but it would be easier once the well filled up and overflowed into his bloodstream like it used to. “I need to save it to age you back again anyway,” he told Minho. “Wouldn’t you rather be big?”

Minho hummed. “Yes,” he decided eventually. It was a big change from his desperation from before. “But you will be sad.”

“Why would I be sad?” Jisung asked. Hyunjin shrugged and sat up, watching Minho curiously.

“Because you don’t like doing magic anymore,” Minho said.

“Where did he learn that,” Jisung whispered, mostly to himself. Hyunjin looked at him sharply.

“Is he right?”

“Yes!” Minho said, twisting around in Jisung’s lap. “Sungie is my _best friend_. I know him better than you!” He placed his hands on Jisung’s cheeks and squished them together. He did that as an adult too but it was normally only with one finger. Jisung really _really_ missed adult Minho. He closed his eyes to block out the view of his mistakes but Minho’s child voice still rang out. “Sungie?”

“Yep,” Jisung said shortly, his eyes still tightly closed.

“Do you not want to make me big? Because it’s magic.” How was this kid so perceptive?

“It’s dangerous, Minho,” Jisung said, finally opening his eyes. Minho was frowning at him. It was so familiar. He just had to imagine a sharper nose and thinner cheeks and it would be his hyung. “Every time I use magic on you something worse happens. I _want_ to make you big again and remove your curse, I really do. But I don’t want you to die while I’m trying.”

“So I have to stay small forever?” Minho asked.

“Oh jeez,” Hyunjin said. Yeah, Jisung didn’t want to be part of this conversation either.

“I don’t know.” Jisung said and something inside him snapped. “I don’t know, ok. And normally I’d talk to Minho-hyung about all this but I _can’t_ because he’s fucking _five!”_

He shouldn’t have yelled. He should not have yelled because now Minho’s face was crumpling _again_ and this time it was his fault. What was worse was that this wasn’t an attention-grabbing cry like before. It was silent and Minho’s lower lip wobbled tremendously as he fought back a sob. The door opened and Hyunjin made neck slashing motions as Jeongin stared wide-eyed, frozen with his hand on the handle. Hyunjin leapt off of the bed and dragged Jeongin out of the room with him, no doubt glad of the excuse to leave. Maybe they would go and get one of the hyungs to deal with this.

“I’m sorry, Minho,” Jisung whispered, pulling the crying boy into his arms. “I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“You, don’t, like, me,” Minho said dejectedly, through hiccups.

“I _do_ like you,” Jisung said, rubbing circles on his back. “I like you so much, Minho.”

“No. You like _Big me._ ” Minho said. “You don’t like _me_. You’re not going to make me big again and you won’t like me ever.” He tried to pull out of Jisung’s grip but there was no way Jisung was letting him go like this.

“I like you, I promise,” Jisung said, trying desperately to hold onto Minho as he jabbed his sharp elbows into Jisung’s ribs. “Minho, stop, please. _Please._ I’ll tell you a secret.”

“A secret?” Minho asked, stilling immediately. Despite not being officially a fae, he was just as greedy for knowledge as Felix and Seungmin. There were still tear tracks down his face but he didn’t seem to care anymore.

“A secret,” Jisung confirmed though he had no idea what there was to tell Minho that he didn’t already know. “What do you want the secret to be about?”

“About me,” Minho whispered. “A secret about me.”

“Will you tell me a secret about me too?” Jisung asked. “So it’s fair.”

Minho nodded enthusiastically. “Like Lixie does to get strawberries.”

“Yeah, like Lixie does,” Jisung agreed. He had to think of a secret now. It was difficult to find something he’d never told Minho before. His conversation with Hyunjin from before Minho interrupted echoed in his mind. ‘ _He got really close and I told him I wanted to kiss him sometimes and he said that’s what romantic attraction was,’_ Hyunjin said.

“I think I might be in love with Big you,” Jisung’s mouth said unprompted and _wow, that’s not the secret he meant to say **at all.**_

Minho’s mouth fell open in an O.

“I mean-” Jisung tried to backtrack but he couldn’t find anywhere to go. “I don’t- I’m not _in love_ with you but I might like you? Not as a friend?” _Terra, why was he telling this to a five year old._

“So I can marry you when I grow up?” Minho asked. And Jisung thought that _he_ had been moving too fast.

“ _Marry_ me?” Jisung asked.

“Yes,” Minho replied seriously. “I’m going to grow up again and then when I’m an adult I will get Changbinnie to make you a pretty ring and I will marry you.”

Jisung laughed despite himself. “Min, marriage isn’t legal here and I’ll be super old. You won’t want to marry me.”

Minho sighed exasperatedly. “I’m a hundred-”

“And a lot,” Jisung finished with him.

“I’m older than you,” Minho said, glaring at Jisung for his interruption.

“Yes, Minho-hyung,” Jisung said with a laugh. “I’m sorry, Hyung. Continue.”

“Channie-hyung will make marriage legal,” Minho said confidently.

“Will he?” Jisung said, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“And even if you are old as Hyung you’ll still be pretty so I’ll still want to marry you.”

“Ah, ok,” Jisung said, trying to match Minho’s seriousness. “When you grow up I’ll marry you then. But you have to give me a really pretty ring, ok? Otherwise I might say no.”

“Ok,” Minho said, frowning in conversation. “Do you like gold?”

“Gold?!” Jisung exclaimed. “Ah, are you going to be rich when you grow up?”

“Yes,” Minho said. “I’m going to be the best dancer in all of Korea and have so much money and a hundred cats.”

“I’m allergic to cats,” Jisung reminded him. That made Minho pause.

“A hundred sphynx cats!” he declared.

“What are they?” Jisung made the mistake of asking.

“You don’t-?” Minho looked offended. “Give me your phone, I’m going to show you.”

There was a cursory knock on the door before Jeongin in fox form pushed his way through the gap where Hyunjin hadn’t closed it properly. Jisung knew he was a talented boy but he couldn’t knock and then shift that quickly.

“Come in,” he called. Minho was already distracted, holding open his arms as Jeongin bounded onto the bed and straight to him.

“Fluffy Innie!” he cried happily, trying to pet the fox all over as Jeongin jumped and twisted out of his grip. Eventually Jeongin gave him an opening and Minho knocked him over, going face-first into his pale fur. Jisung grabbed Minho by his waistband and hauled him up again before he got bitten or scratched. Jeongin was very much in control in his fox form but instinct was instinct and if Minho hurt him it would be difficult for Jeongin not to try to protect himself.

“You good now, Sung?” Hyunjin asked from the door with a smirk. Their entrance was a _little_ too perfectly timed now he thought about it. Minho had just finished his lengthy description of sphynx cats (complete with videos) and Jisung was ready to educate him on the coolness of lizards when the knock came. Jisung didn’t trust it one bit.

“Yes,” Jisung answered Hyunjin suspiciously. “What did you hear?”

“Oh no, I fully ran away from the problem,” Hyunjin admited sunnily, joining them along with… _Seungmin._

“What did _you_ hear, Seungminnie?” Jisung asked instead. He should have known the fae boy would be involved.

“Everything,” Seungmin said with no shame, stretching out on Jeongin’s bed. He rested his head on Hyunjin’s thigh and Hyunjin started to run his fingers through Seungmin’s hair. It would have been a sweet image were it not for Seungmin’s shit-eating grin. “I better get an invite to your wedding.”

“I’m not getting married,” Jisung said, trying in vain to will the blush away from his cheeks. “Contracts formed with minors are invalid.”

Hyunjin frowned cutely but Seungmin looked impressed. “We’ll make a fae out of you yet, Han Jisung.”

“I’m not joining your cult,” Jisung replied.

“Your fiance is,” Seungmin said and Jisung nailed him with a pillow.

“Min, what did you do?” Hyunjin asked with a playful warning tone once Jisung was out of pillows and they could see clearly again. Jisung turned to see Minho frozen, caught in the act holding a tightly rolled armadillo.

“Nothing!” Minho said quickly. “It just happened!” He dropped Jeongin, who thankfully only had half a metre to fall, onto the soft bedspread.

“Innie? Are you ok?” Jisung asked, running a finger along Jeongin’s back. Jeongin uncoiled at the soft touch and Jisung scratched at the soft spot between his ears. Jisung knew it wasn’t always a defensive shift and, at home at least, Jeongin often used different forms as a method of communication. Jisung personally got the armadillo a lot when he tried to get a kiss out of Jeongin. Asking for kisses was probably out of line now anyway considering the boy had not one but two boyfriends trying to smother him with love.

He had to pull his hand back quickly as Jeongin shifted back to a fox and then to a boy.

“I’m fine,” Jeongin said roughly. He cleared his throat and swiped a pair of shorts off of the floor to put on. “It just tickled.” Hyunjin made grabby hands at him but Jeongin ignored him with expert precision and pulled Minho back into roughhousing.

“Rejected,” Jisung said in his best video game narrator impression as he pulled his legs up out of the way.

“It’s fine, I’ve got options,” Hyunjin said casually and cupped Seungmin’s chin to tilt his face up as he swooped down to press a kiss to Seungmin’s lips. Jisung knew he should have looked away but instead he stared in morbid fascination as Seungmin fisted his hand in Hyunjin’s t-shirt to hold him in place and time seemed to slow down. _That_ was going to take some getting used to. His shock must have shown on his face because Hyunjin gave him a shy smile as he pulled away.

“We can tone down the PDA,” he offered.

“It’s fine,” Jisung said quickly and cut through the awkward tension with another joke. “I know you wouldn’t manage to restrain yourself anyway.”

“I could,” Hyunjin argued.

“He’s gonna have to learn before school starts up again or Lix will to have to teach us how to fight,” Seungmin said, rolling into a sitting position. Jisung winced. There were some parts of school he missed but trying to fit the status quo was not one of them.

“You should practice being ‘just friends’ in front of Chan-hyung,” he suggested. “If he misses enough sleep he might even forget you’re dating.”

“I don’t get why he’s fine with Changlix but not us,” Jeongin grumbled, having finally worn Minho out. The boy was lying on his back breathing heavily with his hair sticking up in every direction.

“Because you are _baby_ ,” Jisung told him, squishing Jeongin’s cheeks together so his lips puckered unflatteringly. “Also probably because Changbinnie-hyung thinks it’s incredibly scandalous to do more than peck Lix on the lips and Lix is too nice to push him.”

“I can fix that,” Seungmin said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Min, want to help me persuade Lix to seduce his boyfriend?”

“Yes!” Minho said excitedly, sitting up. “Now?”

“ _No,”_ Jisung said, hating that he had become the voice of reason. “He’s a kid, Seungmin.”

“A kid with a lot of experience in this area,” Seungmin countered before turning his attention back to Minho. “Later, Min. Come to our room after bedtime.”

“ _No,_ ” Jisung said. “Minho, don’t do that.”

“Why?” Minho wanted to know. Where to start.

“You have to respect Changbin-hyung’s boundaries,” _Terra,_ now he sounded like _Chan._ What was _happening?_ “Also if Channie-hyung realises Changlix are not PG he’s going to do a room change and you’ll have to give away your single room.”

“No!” Minho said as if Jisung had just suggested getting a dog instead of a cat.

“Yes,” Jisung said seriously, incredibly glad he had found a reason that didn’t require detailed discussion of his friends potential sex life. “He’ll make you room share with _Hyunjin_.”

“Nooo!” Minho shook his head so hard Jisung was afraid it might fall off.

“Spoilsport,” Seungmin grumbled.

**_Escape the child:_ **

"Wow," Chan said, stumbling to halt in the doorway of the shop. "That's a lot of glitter." He was staring at Jisung who had been given large circles of glitter on each cheek and a highlight on the tip of his nose for good measure. Minho had declared Jisung's eyes 'already sparkly' and Jisung hadn't questioned it, glad to avoid that disaster.

Jisung puffed up his cheeks and smiled. "Am I cute, Channie-hyung?"

"Very cute," Chan agreed. “Is this your work, Min?” he asked.

“Yes!” Minho replied. “And I have tiger stripes! Can you see? Can you see?” Minho tipped back his head and turned it from side to side so the light would catch the glitter. “They’re _hidden_ tiger stripes so nobody knows I’m a tiger.”

“Of course,” Chan said amicably. He put down his shopping bags and picked Minho up to make a show of examining his face closely. “Ahh, an elusive _Great Korean Tiger_. I haven’t seen one of those in... nearly two hundred years.”

“Yes, I’m not a _normal_ Korean Tiger,” Minho said scathingly. “I have an extra stripe.” He pointed to his nose. “Because I’m _better.”_

“Ah but Great Korean Tigers don’t bite any octopuses. Ok?” Chan said. He must have heard about the incident this morning. “Or humans or witches or fae or any other animals. Yes?”

“I have to bite _something,”_ Minho exclaimed as he tried to wriggle free. “I’m a _carnivore.”_

“You can eat the pig I caught for dinner at the supermarket,” Chan compromised. “And some vegetables.”

“But I’m a carnivore!”

“Vegetables are meat,” Chan argued, putting Minho down again. “They are plant meat.”

Minho narrowed his eyes. “Ok,” he said eventually and ran off again. Jisung sighed. He had about six minutes before Minho would be back to drag him into whatever game he was playing. He was cute but exhausting.

“Long day, Sungie?” Chan asked, holding his still-glittery arms open. Jisung stumbled into his embrace head first. Chan was unusually warm thanks to the sun’s rays and it only improved the quality of an already-great hug.

“He doesn’t stop,” he mumbled into Chan’s shoulder. “I just want to sit still.”

“Want to come to my room and watch some very important anime?” Chan offered. “I think hot chocolate is also required.” Jisung tightened his grip on Chan’s waist. That sounded so good he could cry.

“Just us?” he asked shyly.

“I can push the chest of drawers in front of the door so not even Innie could get in,” Chan suggested.

“Innie can join,” Jisung allowed. “I think he’s been trying to escape today too.”

“We can ask Innie then,” Chan said, letting Jisung go. He glanced at the time on Jisung’s watch. “I think we can shut the shop now so you go find what you want to binge. I’ll be down with hot chocolate.”

Jisung crawled to the middle of Chan’s bed and pulled the duvet out of its neat position. When he'd created a nice little cocoon he then reached out to collect Chan's laptop from the bedside table. There were far too many cables attached and he was afraid to ruin what Chan might be working on so he carefully unplugged the headphones and the charging cable and carried the rest of it in both hands back to the middle of the bed.

Chan’s password hadn’t changed in years despite how confidential some of the content was. I

His laptop background was also a picture of the beach but at least it was a Korean beach with Korean children (mostly). Jisung was buried up to his chest in the sand and Changbin was standing over him, one foot on Jisung’s shoulder as he brandished a shovel with a manic grin. Jisung could practically hear his giggles through the screen.

InMinJin weren’t dating when the picture was taken but you wouldn’t be able to tell from how entangled they were. Jeongin and Hyunjin were hauling a protesting Seungmin towards the water except it was more that a shifted Hyunjin was restricting all of Seungmin’s limbs while poor Jeongin had to try and move their combined weight by himself. The skid lines on the wet sand showed that he hadn’t gotten very far but he was still valiantly pulling with all his might while Seungmin and Hyunjin were a little blurry with how much they had been moving as they tried to one-up each other.

Felix was much blurrier but his wings couldn’t be mistaken for anything else, fully outstretched along with his arms and his legs as he tried to stay in the air for a second longer.

Minho hadn’t joined them yet when they took that trip to the beach but if he had Jisung couldn’t decide which chaos he would be a part of. Would he have helped Chan and Changbin bury Jisung? Would he have deliberately launched Felix at Jisung? Or would he have balanced out the odds of Seungmin ending up in the water by tickling Hyunjin in his weak spots? Whatever he did Jisung was sure it would be adding to the chaos and not mitigating it. He fit right in.

**_Gay anguish and The Talk._ **

Jisung slowly shifted towards horizontal as the show continued to play. Chan just moved a pillow underneath Jisung’s head and kept up drawing patterns on his scalp as Jisung started to doze off. Jisung stopped trying to follow the plot and just watched the colourful flashes to distract himself from his own thoughts. It was so soothing he’s almost entirely forgotten about the world outside the room until a harried knock sounded at the door. Jisung didn’t really want to see anybody else right now. Well, maybe Felix, but he would have to subdued which was unlikely right now given all the food he brought back from his travels and his excitement to be home again.

“State your name, race and purpose?” Chan called out. He was in a playful mood. Jisung wasn’t and he turned his face into Chan’s thigh with a whine.

“Little bit racist there, Channie-hyung,” Jeongin commented mildly. “Why does their race matter?” Chan ignored him.

“Uhh, Changbin?” Changbin said hesitantly from the other side of the door. “Dwarf. And, my life purpose? I’ve not worked that one out yet..” he said, trailing off. Jisung could hear him shuffling his feet, something he did when he needed to pee or couldn’t make a decision. Jisung sincerely hoped he wanted access to the room because of the latter.

“Your purpose of knocking,” Chan clarified loudly. “You’re disrupting an important meeting.”

“I just... wanted… a hug, but I’ll go upstairs.” Chan slammed Jisung into the bed in his rush to get to the door. Jisung wasn’t hurt physically but he felt a little put out. He thought the whole point of this was to have quiet cuddles without interruption.

Chan pulled the chest of drawers back too quickly and there was a horrible screech as the legs scraped along the floor. He ignored it and lunged through the doorway to pull a startled Changbin into his embrace. Changbin’s feet came off the floor and he stiffened his Chan’s grip, eyes wide.

“Hyung,” Jisung moaned, making sure Chan saw the position he had discarded Jisung in.

“Sorry Sung,” Chan said, waddling over to deposit Changbin between Jeongin and Jisung. “Binnie needed hugs.”

“A hug,” Changbin grumbled, getting to his hands and knees and turning around to join Jeongin and Jisung in glaring at Chan. “One hug. It wasn’t a big deal. I could just go find Jinnie.”

“Nuh uh,” Chan said cheerfully, shutting the door again and pushing the chest of drawers back into place. Great, it looked like they were all trapped here. “I heard your tone, Binnie- something’s wrong. You don’t have to say what it is right now but until you feel better you’re staying.”

“Are you saying there’s something wrong with me too?” Jeongin asked, affronted. He let Changbin tuck himself under his arm though as he straightened his back to confront Chan.

“No,” Chan drew out the word with an eye roll as he jumped onto the bed, jostling them all and getting even more glares for it. “Jisung thought you might also appreciate some time out from other members of the household. Was he wrong?”

“Don’t pin this on me!” Jisung protested. Jeongin could turn into a bear now- Jisung had to stay on his good side.

“You are just trying to keep me away from Seungminnie-hyung and Hyunjinnie-hyung,” Jeongin accused Chan. “I came here for the anime.”

“That’s not what this is,” Chan said exasperatedly. “You’re welcome to go upstairs if you’d rather be there.”

Jeongin’s glare deepened. Chan had him in a stalemate. Jisung knew with Seungmin studying and everyone else busy, Hyunjin had been pestering Jeongin a little too much today. He’d known Jeongin a lot longer than Hyunjin had and he could read a fox’s body language better than the other boy. Normally Jeongin would make his feeling very clear but he seemed reluctant to do that with Hyunjin today and Jisung had been too busy with Minho to intervene and point out that raised fur wasn’t a good thing.

“I’ll stay here,” Jeongin said eventually. “But you need to stop separating us, Hyung. Don’t pretend you aren’t- Jisungie-hyung sees it too.”

“I’m not-” Chan sighed. “I’m trying to help,” he said. He sounded sincere. “I really am. You’re all so young and I don’t want you to hurt each other.”

“Felix-hyung is the same age as Seungminnie-hyung and Hyunjinnie-hyung!” Jeongin argued. “You think I’m too young but I’m less than a year younger than them and tonnes of people in my year are dating. I’m not a baby!”

“You’re all too young,” Chan said. Of course he would think that. He was nearly as old as potatoes. “I’m not saying you’re with the wrong people or you’re going to regret it or anything but it’s your first relationship, for you, and for Seungminnie and Hyunjinnie, and for Binnie in his. You-”

“Timeout!” Jisung interrupted, holding his hands in a T. “It’s not Lix’s first relationship?”

“No,” Changbin said a little grumpily. “He’s done everything before and I won’t even kiss him properly. He’s never going to stay with me.” Jisung turned to Chan with wide eyes, suddenly very glad someone mature and experienced was present. He’d love to say ‘no, Lix loves you. He’ll never leave you’ with confidence. However, Lix was fae and Jisung hadn’t spoken to the boy properly since he and Changbin got together to be sure that was true. Jisung really didn’t want to be part of the reason Changbin ended up with a broken heart by giving the wrong advice.

“Binnie,” Chan said gently, thankfully taking the lead. “You’ve known Lix nearly two years and in that time has he ever shown any sign of being bored of you?”

“No,” Changbin said quickly, “but-”

“Then why would he stop wanting to be your boyfriend because you’re not ready to kiss him yet?”

“Because that’s what boyfriends do!” Changbin exploded. “He’ll just want to be my friend and go find someone else to kiss!”

“Like Minnie-hyung,” Jeongin muttered and Changbin pulled back from him, looking horrified.

“What?!”

“Whoops,” Jeongin said, laughing slightly. “Lix and Minnie-hyung kissed.” He offered the information with a nervous half-smile. “Before you got together, I think.” The vital additional was a little too late.

Changbin flopped down on the bed with an anguished wail. “It already happened.”

Chan patted his back consolingly as he raised his eyebrows at Jeongin. Jeongin nodded, confirming his statement, and Chan pulled a face of comically exaggerated surprise. He was enjoying this gossip too much for someone trying to stop his kids getting together.

“Lixie isn’t leaving you, Binnie,” Chan told the pancake of angst in the middle of the bed. “I told you at the start that he’s used to more casual relationships but that doesn’t mean he’s not serious with you.”

“He put glitter on his six-pack and I ran into a wall,” Changbin wailed into the duvet.

“What?” Chan asked, missing the words through Changbin’s dramatics.

“Felix outlined his abs in glitter,” Jisung explained. “He was walking around without a t-shirt on to show it off and Binnie-hyung ran into a wall when he saw. It was really funny.”

Changbin flipped over. “I wasn’t ready!” he moaned loudly. “He can’t just do things like that.”

“You’re seen Lix-hyung without a shirt before though?” Jeongin said and kicked Changbin’s flailing leg out of his space.

“This is different,” Changbin said. “You don’t get it because you’re naked all the time.” His face was getting redder with every word. Jisung was loving it. “Lix is..” Changbin hid his face in his hands and kicked his legs like a toddler having a tantrum.

“You are a disaster,” Jisung told him proudly, patting Changbin’s head. “Our little constipated gay.”

“This is why I didn’t bother trying to separate Changlix when they got together,” Chan told Jeongin quietly, indicating Changbin’s state.

“So you were trying to separate us!” Jeongin exclaimed. “I knew it!”

Ok, ok, ok,” Chan said loudly. “Everybody calm down. Changbin, sit up, breathe.” He waited until they were all paying attention and Changbin’s face had stopped doing that before he began. “I was kind of hoping that the internet would do this job for me but I guess it’s time you all got The Talk.” Jisung made a bolt for the door but Chan was faster and pushed him back down into his seat.

“I don’t need The Talk!” Jisung exclaimed, still trying to escape. “I’m single! Permanently!”

“Your fiance is going to be very upset to hear that,” Jeongin quipped, eye glinting evilly as he grinned at Jisung. That little shit was spending too much time with Seungmin. Jisung would punch him but he was too far away and Chan was still watching him.

“Fiance?” Changbin echoed, looking at Jisung as if he’d grown horns. “What’s been happening?”

Jisung rolled his eyes. “I’m not engaged. Minho just said the other day that he was going to marry me when he grows up. He also said today that he was a tiger. It doesn’t mean anything.” Tiny Minho was serious about a lot of things, like owning a hundred cats and making his own toast. His determination to marry Jisung when he was older was nothing for Jisung to get his hopes up about, although a tiny voice in the back of his head pointed out that Adult Minho was also very serious about owning a hundred cats and making his own toast.

“The engagement explains why he was asking me all those questions about rings,” Changbin mused.

“He didn’t,” Jisung groaned.

“Yeah. He had a lot of questions about gold,” Changbin grinned. It was Jisung’s turn to face-plant the duvet. He really shouldn’t have told Minho he had a crush on Adult-him, or agreed to marry him. That was probably the bigger mistake- saying he’d marry Minho if he got a pretty enough ring. Of course Minho was going to find a pretty ring, they lived with a jeweller.

“So now we’ve established that you all need The Talk, can we get this over with?” Chan asked, sitting Jisung back up. “I don’t want to have this conversation as much as you do.”

“Is this going to be the gay sex version?” Jeongin asked. Chan went red and his hands went through about ten different gestures before he collected himself.

“Ok, first,” Chan said, hands tugging at his red ears. “No sex until you’re twenty. Of any kind.”

“There are different kinds?” Jeongin asked but he was grinning again. How was their innocent maknae the most comfortable out of all of them?

“Uhhh,” Chan said, panicking. “Yes. But I’m not telling you about them.” Jisung had a feeling that if he fed Chan blood right now all of it would immediately relocate to his face. “Also- oh god, I can’t do this.” If Chan was using human expressions he must be really flustered.

“Yeah you can,” Jeongin said, ducking his head to force Chan to make eye contact. He was using this as free entertainment more than anything. “No sex before twenty. What else? Always wear protection?”

“Ye- well, no. But-” Chan was really losing it now. Jisung decided to join in.

“Does jacking off in the same room count because Jeongin and Hyu-”

Chan cut him off by screaming and waving his hands in panic.

“But does it count?” Jisung asked when Chan paused to breathe.

“I don’t know,” Chan whined. “And I’d really rather not have to think about it please.”

“What?” Jeongin teased. “Me and Hyun-” Chan put a hand over his mouth.

“Stop, you horrible child.” Chan told him. “Two years before you do anything more than kiss that boy, ok? Or Seungminnie. Or any other boy.” This felt a little like a Shakespearian play and Jisung could see more than one way Jeongin could exploit those conditions to do what he wanted. And if Jisung could find loopholes, Seungmin would be able to stroll through Chan’s defenses with his eyes shut and take whatever he wanted.

“So are Hyunjinnie-hyung and Seungminnie-hyung allowed to do stuff without me when they turn twenty?” Jeongin asked once his mouth was set free again. “That’s not fair- their birthdays are made up. I bet Hyunjinnie-hyung is actually younger than me.”

“That is a conversation for the three of you-” Chan broke off his suggestion and snapped his fingers. “That’s what I meant to talk to you about!”

“Hyunjin and Seungmin fucking?” Jisung asked judgmentally.

“No!” Chan said exasperatedly. “Terra, why did I ever choose to adopt more people after you three? Communication! I wanted to talk about communication.”

“You’re not doing a very good job yourself right now, Hyung,” Changbin commented. They really were horrible children.

“I am doing my best,” Chan said, thumping the duvet between them to emphasise his point. He turned to Changbin with determination in his eyes. “Ok, so you need to talk to Felix. He will be more than happy to do things differently with you if you just tell him what you’re not comfortable with. He doesn’t know what level of interaction is acceptable. Also, maybe go over exclusivity again since apparently he and Seungmin...” Chan left the sentence for them to finish on their own since nobody was entirely sure what Felix and Seungmin had been up to.

Changbin looked mortified. “Can’t you talk to him?” he pleaded to Chan.

“About what you want?” Chan smiled in amusement. “No, Binnie. You’ve got to do that one yourself. Learning to communicate is really important, believe me. Almost every single fight I’ve had with Jinnie wouldn’t have happened if we just talked to each other about what was going on.”

Changbin pouted. “He’ll think I’m being a baby,” he muttered.

“You are,” Jisung said, reaching out to tickle Changbin under the chin. “Baby Changbin, scared of his boyfriend’s six-pack.”

“Jisung,” Chan said firmly. “Cultural differences can be discussed but not mocked.”

“But it’s funny!” Jisung protested. “Lix wasn’t even trying to be sexy.”

“There was glitter. On his abs,” Changbin gritted out. “He looked like an angel.”

“You tell him that, sweetie,” Chan said, patting him on the head. He then turned to the youngest. “Innie- you also need to talk to your boys, make sure you’re all on the same page. You don’t all have to go at the same pace but you have to make sure everyone is ok with it. I was also talking about doing a roommate rotation-” Chan held up a hand as Jeongin opened his mouth to protest. “Not just with the intention of separating you and Hyunjinnie but so that Seungminnie isn’t the odd one out. You’re free to bedshare like Changlix if you behave but it would be unfair to Seungmin to leave it as it is. Does that sound reasonable?”

Jeongin hung his head and picked at the cord of his sweatpants. “Yeah. I hadn’t thought about that,” he admitted reluctantly. Jeongin missed the fond look Chan sent him but Jisung didn’t.

“I know you’re not going to listen to me but don’t rush this,” Chan advised. “You were best friends first and I’d hate for that to be ruined-”

“That’s not going to happen,” Jeongin said firmly. He’d pulled his knees up to his chest and was hugging them tightly. “We promised- friends first.” Jisung could see how it might be a sensitive topic given how close the three of them had been to entirely falling out and he was glad to hear they were making sure that wouldn’t happen again. It had been awful for everyone to see them all hurting and he couldn’t imagine what it would be like if they fell out permanently. He couldn’t pick a side when they were all his brothers.

“Ok,” Chan said, accepting Jeongin’s claim easily. That didn’t stop him from adding a final warning. “Don’t bottle things up though. Even if you think it’s irrational you can always come to me or Jinnie and I’m sure Binnie and Sung would try to help if you asked them.” Jisung nodded enthusiastically. He was the last person to come to for relationship advice but if Jeongin wanted his opinion he would do his utmost best to help.

“Maybe you can give me advice about having a fae boyfriend,” Changbin joked, nudging Jeongin with his shoulder.

“I’ll let you know when I’ve worked it out,” Jeongin said.

“They’ll want kisses just to give their mouth something to do,” Chan said, seemingly without thinking.

 _“Channie-hyung_ ,” Jisung said, astonished. Changbin and Jeongin were equally dumbstruck.

“What?” Chan said. “You know I’m old. I’ve dated people and some of them were fae. If they’re bored, they’ll try and kiss you. Binnie, that’s another reason you need to talk to Lix.”

“This explains so much,” Jeongin whispered, missing the final addition as he stared off into space.

“Jisung,” Chan said cheerfully.

“No,” Jisung replied. He didn’t need a stupid intervention about talking to his boyfriend because he didn’t have a boyfriend.

“Yes,” Chan countered. “I know Minho has been helping you so much these last few months with controlling your core magic and losing that support right now-”

“SUCKS,” Jisung cut in. Chan didn’t know half of it. He should try turning his best friend into a five-year old, realising he is in love with said best friend and then having his 5-year old best friend propose. Oh, and on top of all that he had to do another spell nobody in the history of witches had ever managed without killing Minho. “It sucks balls, Channie-hyung.”

“Nobody is sucking any balls,” Chan said with mock sternness and Changbin giggled nervously. If Felix ever did decide to seduce Changbin, Changbin was a goner. Jisung turned to look at Changbin squarely and held eye contact for a second, waiting for the perfect timing.

“Balls.”

Changbin giggled again and Jisung made a show of slowly shaking his head. Poor Felix.

Chan sighed. “Bin, keep it together.”

“You made a joke!” Changbin protested. “You can’t expect me not to laugh!”

“Sorry, my mistake,” Chan said dryly. “I’ll keep this professional.” He rolled his eyes at Jisung before folding his hands in his lap. He straightened his back in the best impression of a serious meeting he could manage in gym clothes, covered in glitter, sitting cross legged on a bed. It was surprisingly effective. “Han-ssi, should you require relief from childcare duties I advise you notify another member of the household who will be more than willing to assist you in these trying times. Hyunjin-ssi has also brought to my attention that you may feel you are without a support system.” What a snitch. “I would like to assure you that we are here for you-”

Jisung kicked him. “Stop that. It’s creepy, Hyung.”

“Han-ssi, your wellbeing-” Chan continued, a smile twitching as his character started to crack. Jisung kicked him again.

“Hyung! You sound like those men at the council building.” The ones that had been very reluctant to allow Chan to take Jisung under his wing instead drafting him into the same programme Chan had been in. They had used a lot of words to make it sound like they cared when they didn’t and Jisung didn’t appreciate the reminder.

“Where do you think I learnt it?” Chan tilted his head and grinned. He was like a dog looking for praise for a trick. Jisung batted Chan on the arm weakly.

“Unlearn it,” he told him.

“I’ll try,” Chan said sincerely. “You keep me on the right path, Sung.” Chan claimed that Jisung had saved him but Jisung didn’t really see it. Yes, this Chan laughed easier than the Chan he first met and he was more open to people now, but that wasn’t Jisung’s doing. That was just because he quit his shitty job and stopped having the Council breathing down his neck.

“Sure, I’ll call you out if you start acting weird again,” Jisung said dismissively.

**_Impromptu cuddles:_ **

"I didn't say you could come in," Minho told the imp reproachfully.

"Sorry, I just- Jisung wasn't in his room and I.. panicked." Seungmin screwed up his eyes, expecting a reprimand.

"He's fine," Minho said softly. "I'm fine. We're both fine, Minnie."

"Yeah," Seungmin pushed his fringe off of his forehead and sighed deeply. "I know. Sorry."

"I just checked Hyung," Jisung offered. "He's all ok."

"You used your magic?" Seungmin asked, keyed up again.

"It's fine," Jisung assured him. "I used it but I didn't spend it, if you know what I mean. I was just using it to feel."

"You shouldn't-" Seungmin cut himself off but looked conflicted. "You shouldn't use any more today. You must be nearly completely empty." He was.

"It's ok, I don't need magic," Jisung assured him. "And I'm not running a continuous spell this time, I double checked."

"Please," Seungmin said.

"No more magic use," Jisung promised, holding up his hands. "I'll go to sleep right now."

"And you, Hyungie," Seungmin said. "You need to sleep." Minho reached over Jisung's head and set his phone on the bedside table.

"There. Ready to sleep."

Seungmin nodded to himself. "Do you want me to close your blinds?" Minho nodded and let Seungmin quietly fuss over them for another minute as he traced patterns on Jisung's shoulder with his nail to keep Jisung awake. His method was quickly losing effectiveness as the reminder that Minho was alive was really all Jisung needed to relax. Jisung was asleep before Seungmin even left the room.

***

Jisung woke up in fear. It was still dark and someone was looming over him, shaking him urgently.

"Wha-?" he managed to say, trying to get the hands off of him.

"I'm sorry!" Seungmin cried, letting Jisung go as soon as he fought back. Jisung felt Minho wake up too beside him and prop himself up on his elbows.

"What the fuck, Seungmin," Jisung grumbled. "There better be a fire."

"I'm sorry," Seungmin said again, twisting his hands together. "My dream was just so real and I-"

"It's ok, Minnie," Minho hushed him and beckoned Seungmin to climb over Jisung. Seungmin basically dived for Minho and Minho pulled Seungmin on top of him, patting his hair and whispering consuming words to him. Jisung knew the bed fit three people but he didn't want to prove the point at 3am.

"Sorry I'm being so stupid," Seungmin mumbled.

"You're not being stupid," Minho assured him. "Never.” This was the Minho-hyung Jisung had missed so terribly and he had to remind himself that Minho was a Hyung to more than just him and Seungmin deserved Minho’s comfort as much as he did. It still stung though that Minho hugged Seungmin so easily and yet had only grudgingly allowed Jisung to share his bed to stop him from worrying.

“I'm guessing we got a lot closer to dying earlier than we were aware of?" Minho asked gently.

Oh. Jisung had forgotten that Seungmin’s eyes had been open during the spell. He might not have felt what Jisung and Minho had gone through but perhaps he was more aware of what had really transpired than either of them. That memory would be a heavier burden than Jisung’s faint echoes of feelings from the experience. Seungmin didn't say anything but he clung to Minho a little tighter and stared at Jisung through the dark with big scared eyes.

"Thank you, Minnie," Jisung said, reaching out to grab his hand. Seungmin squeezed his hand tightly. "I heard you telling me to stop."

Seungmin shook his head. "You didn't. I told you so many times and you keep going. I had to tell your magic to stop in Fae before you heard me."

" _Stay in your body,"_ Jisung remembered faintly. So Seungmin hadn't been speaking to him after all.

"I said it so many times," Seungmin whispered. "I didn't think it was going to work."

"Thank you, Seungminnie." Jisung said again, putting as much weight behind the words as possible.

"Thank you," Minho echoed him, hugging Seungmin tighter. "I owe you two life debts."

"No!" Seungmin said, scrambling to sit up. Minho tried not to let him go but Jisung hadn't grown his skeletal muscles very well and Seungmin broke away easily. "No debts. You're family and I love you. You don't owe me anything."

"3RACHA policy," Jisung agreed. "Family discount is free."

"I love you too but I still owe a life debt," Minho said, tugging Seungmin back down into a hug. "Three actually, I think. One for me today, one for Jisung today and one for me the first time."

"I'm never cashing them in," Seungmin grumbled as he settled on Minho's chest again.

“I still owe you,” Minho said. Why did the fae feel the need to put a value on everything?

“Get off him, Minnie,” Jisung said, pulling Seungmin’s arm. “I did a shit job at building his muscles and he’ll collapse with your heavy ass on him all night.”

“No, I can leave-” Seungmin tried to get out of the bed but there was very little mattress space for him to push up on and Jisung kept a firm grip on his arm… They both went tumbling to the floor.

“Dad is going to kill us,” Seungmin whispered, freezing on top of Jisung as if that would cancel out the horrendously loud thud they had just made.

“Maybe he’s asleep,” Jisung offered. Who was he kidding, Chan had slept in that morning- there was no way he was asleep now.

“I was not involved,” Minho said from the bed, peering over to check on them. “You two can stay down there. This is my bed.”

“How is _that_ fair,” Jisung argued. “We’re both here just to make sure _you_ don’t clock out in the middle of the night. If anything you should be _thanking_ us.”

Chan cleared his throat from the doorway and Jisung would have jumped if he didn’t have Seungmin lying on him. Minho definitely did.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Chan said with a tired smile.

“We’re all scared of death, but not our own,” Jisung said before Chan could get a fae-style answer that would only piss him off more.

“I can make you scared of your own death if that would make you sleep better,” Chan threatened.

“Umm, no thank you,” Jisung replied politely. He wrapped his legs around Seungmin so the boy couldn’t get off of him and leave him exposed. “I would rather be scared of no deaths.”

“Believe me, that’s not better,” Chan said, easily picking the both of them off of the floor in a tangle of limbs and dropping them back onto the bed. “If you’re scared it means you’ve got something to lose.”

“Ah, it’s 3am Depressing Dad,” Seungmin sighed, rolling off of Jisung to use Minho’s shoulder as a pillow. “Not seen him in a while.”

“Stop giving me alter egos,” Chan chastised him, straightening out the duvet over them.

“How many do you have?” Minho asked, kicking the corner of the duvet off his foot just to annoy Chan.

“Too many,” Chan said, flipping the duvet back into place. “Are you all comfortable enough to sleep?” Jisung knew he didn’t just mean physically.

“I’m squished,” Seungmin complained.

“In a single bed with two other people?” Chan asked in mock surprise. “No way!”

Seungmin harrumphed. “You asked!”

“My mistake,” Chan said dryly. “Do you intend on going back to your own bed or did you just want to complain about it?”

“Just wanted to complain about it,” Seungmin grumbled. Jisung couldn’t really be mad at him for wanting to stay for the same reason he was also here but he would prefer not to be balanced precariously on the edge of the mattress. At least in this position he had the option to stick a leg outfrom under the duvet when it inevitably got too hot.

Chan left momentarily and returned with Jisung duvet which he laid carefully beside the bed. “For when you fall out again,” he said, smiling at Jisung as he watched Chan smooth out the fold he’d put in it. He dropped a quick kiss to Jisung’s forehead before he stood up and Jisung wrinkled his nose at it.

“I don’t want to see any of you before 10am,” Chan told them as he went to leave.

“ _Ten?”_ Seungmin asked.

“For the love of trees, Seungmin. Have a lie in once in your life,” Jisung groused. “Challenge yourself.”

“How is lying in bed-”

“ _Boys,”_ Chan said exaspiredly. “Minho’s asleep. Please do the same.”

“But-!”

“No. Sleep.” Chan glared at them. “I better not hear you.” He shut the door with a firm click and Seungmin managed to hold his tongue for a whole five seconds.

“I’m not staying in here until 10am.”

“Good,” Jisung whispered back, deliberately bumping into Seungmin as he got comfortable. Not that there was a way _not_ to bump into Seungmin. “I can get my pillow back then.”

He had said it as a random complaint in the heat of the moment but Seungmin’s back tensed under his hand the second the words came out his mouth. That was all Jisung needed to remember that Seungmin wasn’t currently using a pillow and instead was resting his head on Minho. Seungmin wouldn’t just let that go if Jisung gave him an opening that good.

“You mean your _Minho-hyung?_ ” Jisung could hear his stupid grin. He hit Seungmin’s back as hard as he dared in the limited space.

“Go the fuck to sleep.”

**_Soulmate talk:_ **

“What do you want to do today?” Minho asked, coming into Jisung’s room uninvited.

“Break the Curse,” Jisung replied without missing a beat.

“No you don’t,” Minho said confidently. “You're scared of using your magic.”

“That’s my secret, Minho.” Jisung said in a hushed tone. “I’m _always_ scared of my magic.

Minho narrowed his eyes at him. “You have to call me Hyung.” He’d missed a perfect Avengers reference. Unbelievable. Still, Jisung humoured him.

“Why?” He challenged Minho. “You’ve not gotten any older and you let me call you Minho yesterday.”

“Yesterday it didn’t hurt when I punched you,” Minho pointed out with a raised fist.

“Good point, well made,” Jisung said hurriedly, dropping his phone to the mattress and holding up his hands. “Minho-hyung it is.”

“Thought so.” Minho smirked down at him.

“I should have taken advantage of you being small while I had a chance,” Jisung said as Minho sat on him.

“You wouldn’t have,” Minho said, leaning back to crush more of Jisung. It wasn’t really that bad because Minho was too skinny to weigh very much but he was still a bother. “I was even more adorable then than I am now and you have a weakness for me.”

Ok, that was rude. “If you knew I had a crush on you,” Jisung said, giving Minho a shove, “then why did you accept it as a secret?”

Minho rolled off of him easily. “I had only guessed,” he said quietly. His face was very close suddenly and Jisung had nowhere to go. “I wasn’t going to confront you on it and I’m sorry I got so carried away with it when I was a kid. That wasn’t fair.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung lied. “I was the one who brought it up anyway.” He turned on his side, facing away from Minho. He just felt like a stupid child now. “I’ll get over you, you can go back to ignoring me or whatever.”

“No.” Minho put his hand firmly on Jisung’s shoulder. “Don’t.” Don’t what? Get over him? Jisung rolled back to face him and Minho got flustered as their breathes mixed again and pulled away. “I mean, you can do whatever you want but-” Jisung actually saw him bite down on his tongue.

“But what?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow. “But _what_ , Minho-hyung?”

Minho’s mouth tightened and he threw his head back in frustration. “I’m not telling you.”

“This is the secret Seungmin knows!” Jisung gasped. He poked Minho in the side. “You have to tell me now!”

“I don’t,” Minho said, batting away Jisung’s hand. “Forget about it.”

“No! _Seungmin_ knows about it, why can’t I know?” If it was a secret about _him_ he deserved to know.

“When you’re twenty,” Minho attempted to placate him. “I’ll tell you when you’re twenty.”

“Fuck that!” Jisung kept poking Minho in all the places he knew would make him squirm. He even sat up to use both hands. “Time is a social construct. Age is just a number.”

“It’s a very important number,” Minho gritted out, pulling up his knees to defend himself.

“What? Twenty?” Jisung asked in confusion. Was it a fae thing like Changbin’s obsession with six?

“Terra, why this idiot out of all the idiots?” Minho muttered. He seemed to get some sort of enlightenment from the god because his strategy changed suddenly and he started attacking, getting Jisung pinned in seconds. “I like you too, you _idiot.”_ Minho said irritatedly. “ _That’s_ the secret that really isn’t a secret at all. I wasn’t going to tell you because you’re _nineteen._ I’m not going to date you when you’re nineteen, Sungie.” Minho relaxed his grip and sat back with a sigh. “You should date someone your own age first and then when you’re older if you still want to, we can try dating then.”

Jisung’s blood was rushing in his ears but he was pretty sure he’d just heard Minho tell him he liked him back. And then before the elation had even hit Minho ripped it away. He didn’t want to date Jisung. Who would?

“Jisung?” Minho called him urgently. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that without warning.” He manhandled Jisung up into a sitting position and Jisung couldn’t work out why until he placed Jisung’s palm on his own wrist. “Channel your magic into me,” Minho said.

Jisung shook him off. “I’ve got it under control.”

“Your eyes are blue,” Minho pressed. “Let me help you.”

“I’ve _got it under control.”_ Jisung said again, getting angry on top of everything else he was already feeling. “And if I want to stop your heart I don’t have to touch you to do it.”

It was easy to do. A little push and he was through their soulbond and then it was the usual routine. Spread through Minho’s blood to get control, stop his heart, and move the blood with magic instead. Matching the flow rate was the hardest part but he’d done it so many times by this point that he barely had to think about it. Jisung waited until Minho’s face betrayed that he had felt the change before pulling out of his body again, gently enough not to cause Minho anything more than mild discomfort. Since his magic had already been so drained, the emotional onslaught hadn’t been as overwhelming as it would have been otherwise and his stint in Minho’s circulatory system took the edge off just enough.

 _“See?_ ” Jisung said sassily. “Not bad for a kid, huh?”

“Jisung,” Minho sighed. “That’s not-”

“That’s it though, isn’t it?” Jisung cut off his weak excuses. “I’m just some little kid. ‘Come back to you once I’m less of a burden to deal with’?”

“You are _not_ a burden, Han Jisung,” Minho said sternly. “What I was _trying_ to say was that I’ve been an adult for a long time. Even though I mess around a lot here I’ve experienced a lot more of the world than you have and I think you should have the chance to discover who you are first before you settle on me just because I’m closest. There’s a world of opportunities out there, Jisungie. Who knows where you’ll be in five years.”

“I’ll be right here!” Jisung protested. “Why would I leave 3RACHA?”

Minho shrugged. “I didn’t discover hip hop until I left home. I was about one hundred and twenty. Maybe you’ll find something you love and cross the world to do it.”

“I love working at 3RACHA,” Jisung said determinedly. “I love living in Seoul. I love spending time with _you.”_

Minho smiled faintly. “I love spending time with you too, Sungie. Hopefully, that doesn’t have to change.”

“ _You’re_ the one that started avoiding me,” Jisung accused him, pulling his knees up between him and Minho. He had thought he had been paranoid before but now there was a good chance that Minho really had been avoiding him.

“I was trying to stop the Feelings,” Minho said the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Mine, and yours.” At least Minho seemed to be as embarrassed about this as he was.

“That worked well,” Jisung commented sarcastically.

“It was actually going very well until you turned me into a five-year-old,” Minho retorted.

“It was _an accident,”_ Jisung reminded him. “And you knew my success rate with magic going into that spell.”

“I did,” Minho agreed, mellowing the mood with his soft tone. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. “Do you really want to try that again?”

Jisung thought about it. Giving up wasn’t how he operated and he did have a better idea of how to break the curse now. “I’m game if you are,” he said, offering Minho his hand to shake.

Minho took his hand and tugged, tipping Jisung over before he used his feet to turn the younger boy around. Jisung ended up in Minho’s arms and Minho smirked proudly when Jisung pushed back his fringe to glare at him.

“You were supposed to shake my hand,” Jisung said, doing his best to stay annoyed.

“You love it,” Minho replied with no remorse and poked Jisung’s cheek until his frown cracked. Jisung couldn’t really deny it now but he gave Minho a shock of magic in retaliation where their arms were touching. Minho pinched him once, twice, three four five- Jisung tried desperately to escape and when that didn’t work he closed his eyes and carefully set up a bubble. It had to keep out Minho without throwing him or any other object across the room so it took a bit of concentration but Jisung managed to set the barrier a centimetre above his skin.

“Hey!” Minho complained when his access was denied. “That’s not fair!”

“I can’t touch you either,” Jisung pointed out and demonstrated by slowly bringing his hand to Minho’s arm. Finger-shaped depressions appeared on Minho’s arm before they made contact. Jisnug pulled away again.

“You can still attack me the other way,” Minho complained.

“Through the soulbond?” Jisung asked. “I won’t go that way. It’s kind of all or nothing that way.”

“The soul...bond?” Minho asked hesitantly.

 _Whoops_. Jisung shouldn’t have called it that. Certainly not out loud. He dissolved the bubble since he couldn’t keep the concentration to maintain it up.

“It’s, um.. So I go through my soul into yours?” Jisung explained awkwardly. “When I deaged you I accidentally set the spell to run through our souls which is why I didn’t realise it was still running. And then when I reaged you I did it that way too. I don’t know if I can do it with anyone or just you.”

“Hmm.” Minho took the revelation very well, clasping his hands around Jisung’s waist and tugging him back to rest against Minho’s chest as he thought. Jisung tipped his head back onto Minho’s shoulder and Minho gently knocked their heads together. It might actually have been a kiss but Jisung couldn’t see if the light pressure he felt had been Minho’s cheekbone or his lips. Either way, it was nice and Jisung was content to stay where he was while Minho thought.

“And the curse is in my soul?” Minho asked.

“I think so,” Jisung replied. “Seungminnie thinks so but I wasn’t really looking for it when I reaged you. It’s got a blood-seal or something on it though so I probably need Seungminnie to find it.”

“When you’ve got your magic back to explosion capacity you can try again,” Minho offered. “No dying on me, ok?”

“Ok,” Jisung agreed with a laugh. He twisted around to look Minho in the eyes. “You can’t die either.”

Minho scoffed. “I’m very difficult to kill.”

“I know.”


	4. Father's Day

**_Dad hugs (post Jisung's 'letter'):_ **

Chan stole Jisung’s phone from his pocket and passed it off before quickly spinning Jisung 360, careful not to hit Jisung’s head off the table or the floor. Jisung screamed predictably.

“Why would you do that!” he exclaimed, holding his hands over his heart and going limp in Chan’s arms.

“No swearing,” Chan told him. “Or I’ll give you more rotations.” Now that Jisung wasn’t putting up a fight Chan took the opportunity to rub their cheeks together as he hugged him. Jisung normally hated it but it was Father’s Day so he had to endure. “I love you, my skinny ball of chaos,” he whispered in Jisung’s ear.

In the last year their family had doubled from four to seven and Chan knew Jisung had really struggled with the change. That was an understatement actually. Jisung had taken the additions as pure betrayal from Chan and made several ‘him or me’ ultimatums and many more threats when that didn’t work. Him and Hyunjin especially… it had gotten so bad Chan had been afraid he was going to have to put one of them in the care of the Council just to keep them both alive. And since Jisung was a witch and Hyunjin was a shifter, logically Jisung would be safer with the council. Thankfully (and Chan was so so so thankful) they had worked out their differences and were now as close as blood brothers.

“I’ll love you forever, Sungie,” Chan whispered. He hoped Jisung would listen and hear the truth in his words. “No matter what, I’ll love you.” Jisung pressed himself against Chan’s chest and didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. He was Chan’s kid and Chan knew him better than words could express.

“Why didn’t _I_ get a hug like that?” Changbin whined, interrupting the moment.

“You’ve not given me your letter yet,” Chan pointed out. “Everyone else has and they all got cuddles.”

“Unfortunately,” Jeongin muttered from the side. Chan knew he’d enjoyed it though. He wouldn’t have gotten within cuddling range otherwise.

Chan let Jisung go and Jisung had barely moved a step and Felix was in his place, grinning up at Chan. “Spin?” he asked eagerly, putting Chan’s hands on his waist.

“Once,” Chan said firmly but Felix had a disarming smile and Chan knew he’d end up with about four spins before he would finally work up the resolve to say no.

**_Baby bird legs:_ **

“I swear, if you put in a firemans pole I will be mad no matter how cool it is.” Chan threatened them. He wasn’t actually sure he would manage to get mad because a fireman’s pole would be _very cool_. It would just need a baby gate or something because Jeongin would definitely trip and fall down the hole by accident otherwise.

“It’s not that,” Jisung said. “We should do that though,” he added thoughtfully. “What’s below my room?”

“The shop,” Chan said though Jisung definitely knew that since his window looked over the street. Jisung was no doubt just trying to get a rise out of him. “You are not getting a pole down to the shop from your room,” Chan continued. “Not even if Changbin agrees.”

“Come on.” Jisung spread his hands in a ‘trust me’ gesture. Chan did not trust him one bit. “I’d never be late to work.”

“No.” Chan stared Jisung down. He always won a staredown because he didn’t need to blink. “You would still be late and you would definitely forget at some point and step out of your bed directly to the ground floor, missing the pole entirely. Bye bye baby bird legs.” Chan waved condescending to Jisung’s feet.

Jisung drew his feet up onto the couch and tucked his legs under himself. “I do not have bird legs!” he said indignantly.

“ _Baby_ bird legs,” Hyunjin corrected. Jisung glowered at him so Hyunjin took it up a notch and pulled one of Jisung’s legs into his lap and wrapped his thumb and forefinger around Jisung’s ankle. His fingers almost touched. “Baby baby bird legs.”

Jisung kicked him in the groin and Hyunjin doubled over with a groan.

“You deserved that, Jinnie,” Chan told him before Hyunjin could ask for pity.

“You told us that violence was never the answer!” Hyunjin moaned into the couch cushion.

“Did I?” Chan asked. “Sometimes it is the answer though.”

“Maybe they told me that at school then,” Hyunjin said, recovering slightly and sitting back up with a pained look on his face, his hands still cupped in his lap.

“No, Channie-hyung did tell us that,” Jisung came to his defense. “When I pushed you down the stairs.”

“Which time?” Hyunjin retorted with a grin and Jisung turned to hug Hyunjin consolingly, patting down the hair on the back of Hyunjin’s hair. It was all for the dramatics because they had already long made up over this and that had involved a lot more tears.

“I’m sorry for the number of times I pushed you down the stairs,” Jisung told Hyunjin. “It was really funny to watch.”

Chan was going to have to start lessons in apologising because _that_ wasn’t it. Hyunjin was very forgiving though and he hugged Jisung back.

“Apart from the time with the chair, it was fine,” he assured Jisung.

“I’m _really_ sorry about the time with the chair,” Jisung redoubled his efforts. “And for kicking you so hard just now.”

“I started it,” Hyunin admitted. “Both times.” At least they were self aware.

“But the time with the chair..” Jisung sounded genuinely ashamed.

Chan hasn’t seen it happen- he hadn’t seen most of their fights actually because they had acted friendly in front of him after the first few clashes. However, he remembers Jisung panicking before Hyunjin had even reached the bottom of the flight and screaming for Chan. He’d passed out repeatedly after than from magic overuse as he worried about Hyunjin and so Chan had had the pair of them in hospital together until Hyunjin was deemed well enough to discharge. It was not a time Chan wanted to revisit but at least they had made up after that.

“I was fine,” Hyunjin told Jisung and let Jisung crawl into his lap for full on cuddles.

“You were both complete messes,” Changbin commented from beside Hyunjin. He was going to get jealous about the cuddles now, Chan could just sense it. He wasn’t the only one with extra senses because Seungmin poked his head around the door.

“What happened?” Chan wasn’t sure if he had advanced hearing or something else but whenever there was drama or gossip Seungmin would just _appear._

 _“_ Jisung kicked me in the balls,” Hyunjin informed him.

“So you’re letting him sit on them too?” Seungmin asked.

“I mentioned the Chair Stairs Incident,” Hyunjin explained. Chan hadn’t been aware it had an official name.

“Ah,” Seungmin said, carefully edging around the door so Chan didn’t get a view of what was behind him and crossing the room to flop down in Changbin’s lap. Changbin lit up and hugged him happily. Seungmin acted like he wasn’t even there.


End file.
